The Poetry Society have responded to our petition: "We still have a number of challenges to overcome before we can re-open the Café week-round in the way it operated before the pandemic. With increased costs to cover, we need to proceed cautiously, to give the Café the best possible chance of thriving. The neighbouring premises that surround us have been undergoing major demolition and construction work throughout the past year, meaning it has been incredibly noisy and dusty, pavements have been inaccessible, and the Café building has been obscured by construction hoardings and scaffolding. We had to acknowledge these weren’t the best circumstances to try and reopen the Café full-time yet.

The Poetry Society has a very small core team to deliver a large amount of activities. After the disruption of the pandemic we’ve been prioritising activities which reach members and audiences nationwide."

See the full statement at: https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/the-poetry-cafe-an-update