Park cafe project progressing well, council told

The Rose Garden Cafe was saved from demolition after a community campaign

Work to restore a park cafe which was saved from demolition by a community campaign is progressing well, councillors have been told.

The Rose Garden Cafe in Graves Park, Sheffield, was set to close due to structural concerns, but was saved when the city council agreed to work with community groups on its restoration.

The Rose Garden Cafe Partnership was set up between the council, the Friends of Graves Park and the Save the Rose Garden Cafe campaign.

At a council meeting on Tuesday, Friends of Graves Park member Gertie Whitfield said joining forces "enables us to do better, more effective work".

'Heritage and identity'

She was speaking at the council’s charity trustee sub-committee.

The park is one of several in the city owned by a charitable trust, of which the council is sole trustee, while the sub-committee makes decisions about them.

Ms Whitfield described how a public consultation on the future of the building drew a big response, showing how important the park and cafe were to people.

She said the consultation was answered by people from every city postcode and further afield.

It showed the cafe was the second most popular reason to visit the park, and its heritage and identity were important factors for users.

'Very, very optimistic'

Council officer Rebecca Nixon said: “It was a really far-reaching consultation that would not have been as good if we’d done that separately.”

She said that a structural engineer had determined that most of the scaffolding propping up the building can now be removed as the roof is in reasonable condition.

That means the cafe operator can now look at bringing back indoor seating, rather than just operating as a takeaway, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The engineer found that the lean in the front wall was caused by poor foundations that could be rectified.

Committee chair Councillor Richard Williams said: “It sounds very, very optimistic and positive.”

Councillor Fran Belbin said the partnership should be a model for the future for the way the council works.

The partnership will now look at fundraising to cover the cost of renovation and restoration work for the building.

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