Park's much-loved cafe to welcome customers again

Scaffolding remains in place on the exterior of the Rose Garden Cafe in Sheffield

A park cafe which was under threat of demolition is due to fully reopen later following restoration work.

The Rose Garden Cafe in Graves Park in Sheffield was closed in July 2022 due to structural concerns.

However, councillors agreed to renovate the site in late 2023 after a community campaign.

The cafe, originally built in 1927, has been operating as a takeaway-only business since December 2022 due to extensive scaffolding inside the building which was only recently removed, allowing it to be fully reopened.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service previously reported that a structural engineer had determined that most of the scaffolding propping up the building could be removed as its roof was in a reasonable condition.

Graves Park is one of several in the city owned by a charitable trust, of which the council is sole trustee.

The interior of the building is ready to play host to customers once again

The campaign to save the cafe resulted in the creation of The Rose Garden Cafe Partnership which was set up by the council, the Friends of Graves Park and the Save the Rose Garden Cafe campaign.

The newly reopened cafe will be operated by Julie Collins and Kelsey Booth, under the name Dukes in the Rose Garden.

Mrs Collins had managed the cafe for the previous tenant before it was closed and the pair also co-manage the cafe at the Centre in the Park in Norfolk Park.

'Doors will open'

Mrs Collins said: "We’ve done it all in 10 days. The scaffolding’s come down; the floor’s now down; and we’ve got all our staff in cleaning and sorting, making sure those doors will open."

Mrs Booth said: "I come from a background of working in the community - and making a friendly and accepting place for people to come is really important.

"There are a lot of older people that can be quite lonely, so it’s a great place for people to meet up, and we love a good chat, Julie and I."

Julie Collins (left) and Kelsey Booth (right) will operate the cafe

To mark the return of customers on Wednesday, the cafe is expected to host a grand reopening event throughout the day.

Scaffolding remains on the exterior of the cafe after structural engineers concluded that the front wall still needed to be supported.

However, members of the Rose Garden Cafe Partnership said they were hopeful this would be removed by the end of next year.

Chris Hallam, the partnership’s independent chair, said: "December 2025 is the 100th anniversary of the grant of the land by JG Graves.

"It's our ambition to have the Rose Garden Cafe fully restored and refurbished by this date."

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