At least one of Krys Hines' neighbours threatened to beat him up if he closed the doors of Café Domestique.

Despite this, the cycling-themed coffee shop said farewell to its regulars at a New Year's Eve party.

"This is a decision that was come to a couple years ago really. I'm just kind of slow," said Hines, who opened the Dundas café in 2010.

The problem, he said, was that Domestique had too much of a good thing – business.

Located in a house on Miller's Lane, capacity for the café (which served coffee, snacks, sandwiches and beer) was 12 in the winter and 40 in the summer when the patio was open. The space wasn't big enough to meet demand.

Scanning the crowd at the NYE party, that much was obvious. Horns sounded intermittently. The café was crammed with well-wishers, most in street clothing, at least one in lycra, a helmet and a cycling jacket.

Ancaster residents John and Kim Rasmussen sat on the porch eating sandwiches from Jonny Blonde food truck, which was parked behind the café. For $40, the beer was all-you-can-drink, but John didn't plan on overindulging.

He had a 40 km New Year's Day ride planned, though he didn't know where he was going to go for his post-ride coffee. There are plenty of places to get a cup, he said, but not a perfect cup.

It wasn't just the coffee though. Community is a word that came up again and again. John said it was through the café that he met other cyclists including Shelly McKee, who nearly cried when she heard about the closure. McKee recently moved to Cambridge from Dundas, but still regularly cycled to Domestique for coffee.

That loyalty was common at the bash.

"I would not miss this for the world," said Rich Gelder, who joked he was going to chain himself to the door at midnight.

"Any ride that I have taken in the last three years since I got my road bike has ended at Domestique almost without exception," he said.

Gelder said he had long commuted by bicycle (he teaches at Dundas Valley Secondary School) but it was the café that got him into road biking. He thinks the whole landscape of Dundas has changed since Domestique opened.

Gelder has lived in Dundas for 17 years and said there has been a huge increase in the number of bikes downtown in the last five years. Cyclists converge on the café year round, for coffee in the winter and beer in the summer.

They still can, if they're willing to ride to Milton. Beginning February 15, that's where Hines will run a coffee cart out of The Mattamy National Cycling Centre (which has its first event this weekend) on weekends and during cycling events.

Eventually Hines will have a permanent location in the velodrome.

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Hines doesn't rule out re-opening in Dundas in the future. For now though, he's focused on the velodrome venture and his new job as program coordinator for Bike for Mike – an organization that gives bikes to local kids and families.

"I can wake up in the morning and be excited about that," said Hines.