A working mill until the flour side stopped paying.
The building traded as a flour mill for most of its life before the machinery finally lost money the millpond could not make up. It sat empty for a few years before it opened as a cafe in 2016, with as much of the original room left alone as building regulations allowed.
The water is still the reason people stay. Nobody is turned out for the next booking, and on a quiet weekday morning half the tables are taken by someone who came for the view and stayed for a second coffee.