Sheffield Rose Garden Cafe restoration plan “moving at a great pace to a great place”
Architect’s drawings have been revealed - showing what Sheffield’s popular Rose Garden Cafe could look like
Architect’s drawings show what Sheffield’s popular Rose Garden Cafe could look like – if a council-community partnership can raise £2.6m to fund the work.
Architect Chris Hill spoke at a Sheffield City Council meeting yesterday (March 3) about how the cafe in Graves Park could be turned into a flexible community space for meetings and events, as well as making the venue work better for staff and customers.
Aiming to be both child and dog-friendly, the cafe would have a new, partly-covered outdoor seating area. The clock tower would be restored and two sets of patio doors that were part of the original design would be reinstated.
The new layout would improve the kitchens and serving area, helping to alleviate queues that snake out of the door at busy times, cutting the space in half.
Solar panels and thermal insulation would make the building cheaper to run, more comfortable to use and environmentally friendly, Mr Hill told the council’s charity trustee sub-committee. The park is owned by a charitable trust with the council as sole trustee.
The project came about after the cafe was saved from the threat of demolition over structural concerns by a public outcry. It is being spearheaded by a council-community partnership.
Council project manager Rebecca Nixon said that ideas for the future of the cafe came from a public consultation exercise run last year. “The key priority was to have community use for a wide range of groups and also the flexibility for a hire space.”
“We are reinstating original features such as the clock tower and preserving the iconic facade which we’re all really familiar with,” said Ms Nixon. “The building has stood for nearly 100 years and it needs modernisation.”
Mr Hill said that bringing back the patio doors would reinstate the building to its original appearance. The covered seating area would be timber framed to reflect the mock Tudor frontage and its roof would match the cafe roof.
Partnership member Julie Collins, who currently runs the cafe, said that having a partitioned-off seating area for events would allow the whole space to be opened up at busy times. She said there are lots of fundraising initiatives taking place, including a monthly series of events coming up.
Her company Dukes donates 10p for every hot drink sold, which has so far raised £1,924.
Coun Fran Belbin, who said she attended a public meeting at the cafe to hear from Mr Hill, described raising £2.6m as “a big ask”. Ms Nixon responded that the design reflects “a full wish list of what we would like to include”.
She said that the partnership is applying to the National Heritage Lottery Fund for the full amount and that would require match funding. The amount raised so far is £260,000, including £230,000 already spent on getting the scheme to this point, which counts as match funding.
Committee chair Coun Richard Williams, who had also attended the public meeting, said: “It’s moving at a great pace to a great place.”
He said that the plan to include a Changing Places toilet for people with disabilities is a “real game changer”.
Coun Williams said that he officially opened a Changing Places toilet at Weston Park and they allow the possibility of visiting places to people who need those facilities. Changing Places toilets have equipment in place such as hoists and adult changing tables to fully support the needs of people with serious mobility issues.