The charity that runs Congleton Leisure Centre is to operate the café in the nearby park.
Located at the historic pavilion, the café, which previously traded as Stock at the Pavilion, has been closed since March and there was a question mark about whether it would reopen in time for the busy summer period.
Now Everybody Health and Leisure has announced it will take over operations at the venue under the Taste for Life brand towards the end of the summer, although a date has not been confirmed.
Everybody already operates two similar cafes – at Queen’s Park in Crewe and West Park in Macclesfield. These have breakfast and lunch menus including hot baguettes, toasties/paninis, pizzas and salads as well as a selection of hot and cold drinks.
Welcoming the announcement, Cong West Coun Heather Seddon, vice chair of Cheshire East Council’s Environment and Communities Committee, said: “It’s great news to hear that the café in Congleton Park will reopen again this summer.
“Congleton Park is one of the most beautiful and well-loved parks in the borough and is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Congleton. It has formal gardens, a playground, a large open space for community events and quiet areas to relax close to nature. The pavilion in the park has been a feature since 1887 when it was designed and built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria and adds to the park’s appeal.”
She added: “I’m really pleased that a solution to keeping the café open at key times of year has been reached with Everybody Health and Leisure.
“As Congleton Leisure Centre is situated right next to Congleton Park, this arrangement will work well.”
As Stock in The Pavilion, the café had been a success story under the leadership of its director Lisa Whitehurst for 15 years.
When she decided to call it a day in February, partly due to economic challenges in the hospitality sector, there was an outpouring of sorrow from the many people who had dined and drank there over the years, including those who held family events there.
Staff at Stock had been praised by the Friends of the Park group for “looking after” the park for them “as they are there early in the morning until late in the evening and have been able to report things that shouldn’t be going on in the park”.
After its closure Cheshire East Council said it was working to procure a new operator, which could involve a temporary arrangement to avoid a significant period of closure.
Thomas Barton, CEO of Everybody Health and Leisure said: “We are really happy to take on the running of the park café in Congleton. This will be the 10th café in our estate, with six running from our facilities, two park cafes in Macclesfield and Crewe and one operating from Bollington Leisure Centre.
“Park cafes are important community assets, giving people a place to gather and prolonging the time members of the community can spend enjoying Cheshire East’s green spaces.”
(Photo: Everybody).
