A community group said a park cafe closure has not received the same attention as others in the city.<\/p>\n
Newcastle City Council took over the running of both Exhibition and Paddy Freeman’s parks cafes in March 2025, before closing them in January this year after claiming they were no longer financially viable.<\/a><\/p>\n Leazes Park cafe closed at a similar time, but while Exhibition and Paddy Freeman’s have found new operators, Leazes’ cafe remains empty but could be be run as a not-for-profit venture, Marion Williams of Friends of Leazes Park group said.<\/p>\n Newcastle City Council cabinet member responsible for parks, Peter Lovatt, said finding a “sustainable operator” was a “key priority”.<\/p>\n Williams, chair of the group and former independent city councillor, said the closure of the cafe did not get the same attention as the other cafes because “we’re in a different sort of area”.<\/p>\n “During the summer you have a fairly high footfall and then the rest of the year you get the odd customer, but nothing like what it takes to run that kind of business,” she said.<\/p>\n Lack of toilets<\/p>\n She also said without the cafe there were no convenient toilets in the area.<\/p>\n “That’s what we desperately need in the park,” she said.<\/p>\n “There are toilet facilities in the pavilions around the park, but the lack of staff means they are never open.<\/p>\n “If they’re on the courts, they’ll use whatever’s available within the park as a toilet, and that’s very undesirable.<\/p>\n “They are needed, without a doubt and you can’t just rely on an independent cafe to provide that.”<\/p>\n Lovatt said the local authority was “disappointed that the previous private operator of the cafe decided to pull out”.<\/p>\n “We are in the process of finding a long term sustainable operator that can provide a different offer to what was previously there so it can be sustainable all year round,” the Liberal Democrat said.<\/p>\n “Like the other two locations, we have made clear this is a key priority, and while we look for an operator we are going to carry out external repairs and repainting of the cafe building.”<\/p>\n Follow BBC Newcastle on X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Nextdoor<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n More on this storyRelated internet links