There's been some progress!

Following a meeting with the Council at the Town Hall on the 22nd September 2022 we have some agreements in place.

Ruth Bell the Head of Parks, Nathan Rogers the Head of Facilities Management and Architect Amber Beare have agreed to press ahead with promptly propping up the cafe to enable a full inspection /structural survey to be done on the complete building including the roof space. We expect this to be completed within the next two weeks and a survey following the week afterwards.

They have also agreed to us jointly instructing this surveyor with our questions, followed by a full cost analysis of repair/refurbishment to inform any future fundraising efforts undertaken jointly with the council. 

At the meeting we left them in no doubt about the extent of your anger and upset at the circumstances which led to the closure and explained why there was a huge issue of a lack of trust with Sheffield Council following the closure of the cafe. The council officers did begin the meeting by apologising for a number of things they admitted they'd handled poorly.

Regrettably, they haven't agreed to provide a temporary replacement building but we are confident this process sets in motion events which could lead to the cafe re-opening, instead of months of delay.

NEXT STEPS
We have agreed to meet the council again on the 12th October at 12.30pm to monitor progress in implementing these agreements.

We agreed that in these circumstances, there's no need to pay for another independent survey of our own unless potential funders require it, so long as they keep their word on sharing the new survey instructions and outcome with us in timely fashion.

NO DEMOLITION
We insisted that demolition is NOT an option under any circumstances and emphasised the amazing work done by Julie and the Brew kitchen team over the last few years and pressed them to maintain this service in the cafe if refurbished rather than offer if to another operator. However, Brew kitchen is out of lease and worked on a tenancy at will so any commercial negotiations will need to take place between Brew kitchen and the Council to conclude any new lease agreement and rental terms, which we are not party to.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT (BUT IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL THAT CAFE RE-OPENS)

We wouldn't be here without all the pressure we have all put on the council, so a huge THANK YOU for your support to date.

There is a South Area Local Committee meeting on the 11th October (6-8pm) at Mount View Methodist Church, Derbyshire Lane, Sheffield S8 8SG. If you're a local resident and want your councillors to see how much support we have for the refurbishment of the cafe, please consider coming along and asking questions. Doors will be open from 5.45pm. 

We will also still be presenting our petition at the next Full Council Meeting on the 2nd November. Depending on how well progress goes and the continued involvement with the council, we may be asking for your support again to demonstrate ahead of that meeting. 

 
Thank you once again for your support and signatures, we'll keep you updated!