For the past two years the Clubhouse café has served the community around Burgess Park, in creating a meeting place for the community but crucially in funding the work of Burgess Sports to provide local children with a great start in life.                                                                                           

Where the council had struggled to make money from the venue and had a management agreement with the previous tenant (paying £30,000 towards toilet maintenance), we were able to create a viable business and a sustainable source of funding for our work. We transformed a dull and dangerous area into a vibrant safe and positive community space

Since 2021 we have needed to sort out the lease, however we have faced hurdles  at every stage. We were finally able to submit an application on 3rd Feb 23 offering £30,000 (£10,000 in cash and £20,000 in social value) annually for the cafe, alongside maintaining the public toilets, fundraising for refurbishment. Despite significant public support, from local organisations, customers, families we work with and even local councillors the council officers have refused our application. Instead they have offered a £25,000 lease in cash for only 29.74 sq mt of usable space, with additional costs to  maintain the public toilets. This would leave the café unable to produce enough funding for our charity. 

In short the council has seen the success of the café, and despite local opposition, and the intervention of elected officials, council officers have decided to benefit from our work at the cost of the local community. The loss of the café will not only have a financial impact on Burgess Sports Charity: it will leave 13 people unemployed, all local residents who have been trained by the café; people with disabilities who come to develop new skills will have to find another place; the opportunity for our young ambassadors to get employability skills will also disappear.

If you want to save this café, but more importantly if you want to support us as we work to provide local children with better opportunities, please sign this petition to save the café.