Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
What's happening to the Downhills Park cafe?
I was concerned to discover that as the summer holidays crept up on us, one of our favourite destinations for playing tennis and general hanging out, Downhills Park, was still without a cafe and, crucially, toilet facilities. I think its fair to say that for a park to feel welcoming and safe there needs to be some kind of facility for refreshments and relief.
After a cross little rant on Twitter, following an email about the park not being ready to host the usual tennis camp, I emailed Peray Ahmet, who is the cabinet member for parks (amongst other things), who replied today with the following ( she is aware that I will be publishing this, incidentally, as I always tell any councillor that I am likely to write what they tell me on HOL and other social media):
As you are aware, under its previous management the Downhills Park Cafe was forced to close due to a general lack of business. The building was also in need of repairs so the Council took the decision not to re-let the cafe to another tenant before these works were completed.
The building is currently owned by the Adults and Social Care department within Haringey Council as it was built with the aim of providing a space for people with learning difficulties to develop their skills and confidence.
Since the cafe’s recent closure, I have been in discussions with colleagues to try and transfer ownership of the building to the Council’s Parks team. Our aim is to lease the cafe to a local community group who will work in conjunction with a food growing project that the Council is planning for the park. There is no time line for this process as yet but I am happy to provide you with an update when we have confirmed the letting of the cafe.
While I appreciate the temporary loss of the cafe and toilet facilities is inconvenient for park users, the Council is committed to ensuring that the cafe has a long-term and sustainable business model that will allow it to operate successfully when it does reopen in the future.
It's sad that the lovely social enterprise that enabled adults with learning difficulties to get work experience was unable to get enough business to make a go of it but encouraging that the council want to let it to a community group and the the growing project sounds interesting. Let us hope we don't have to wait too long for this facility to return to one of Haringey's most interesting wild spaces.
Tags for Forum Posts: downhills park
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kieran Cullen on
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Yes, but I wonder if the 2 might somehow be connected. If people are not using the cafe and/or the park, maybe they might Be less inclined to object to the building works.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Yes, that's the original planning application for the current building. Have I missed something?
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Apologies--just seen the date. Doh!
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Rosemary Foster on
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How lovely that the proposed cafe will be linked to a food-growing project. I do hope it happens eventually. I am not surprised by the delays, having waged an unsuccessful twelve-year campaign (1999-2011) to start a real farmers' market in the forecourt of Hornsey Town Hall. We did obtain planning permission, I still don't understand Haringey Council's motivation for preventing such a market, and hope the truth will be revealed one day. But I like to think that the Sustainable Haringey Food Group (SHFood) contributed to the currently mainstream sustainable food movement. We did manage to get the word "food" included in the Council's "Greenest Borough" documents, established "Growing in Haringey" to promote and help many local food-growing projects, linking them with London's Capital Growth project, and partnered with the local Transition and other groups on several projects (eg Urban Harvest, Meadow Orchard, "Greener Food" (restaurants), Food from the Sky, the CSA with Church Farm, Green on the Screen food&film nights, Tottenham Food Coop, Back2Earth, Lordship Rec, River of Flowers, Save ... (Wards Corner, Ally Pally, Wolves Lane Plant Nursery, Fortis Green Allotments), etc. etc.
Five years ago I moved to New York, coinciding with the closing of the neighbourhood offices and other funding cuts. I hope some of these initiatives survived.
Why am I communicating with HoL now?
Because New York City NYC/gov is promoting local community websites just like HoL, so I recommended Thomas Lowenhaupt, the Director, to have a look. You might hear from him: Tom@connecting.nyc, The JacksonHeights Project.
Jo
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Friends of Downhills Park announce that the cafe will be open from Friday 26th August 2016. i.e.tomorrow.
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Downhills Park cafe . Hassan from the Finsbury Park cafe at Manor House has the lease on a 3 month contract to see if he can make a go of it . Currently doing cold drinks, coffee, cakes etc but will be providing Panini etc shortly. Here a pic of Hassan and his colleague Rubikye ( not sure of spelling) and another of the locals who dropped by to sus out the back where people hang out , as it were. Yes there are Toilets - for cafe users but who knows, they may be flexible . Not the toilets obvs.
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