{"id":696911,"date":"2026-01-15T04:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T04:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/696911\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T04:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T04:50:17","slug":"were-relying-on-people-to-bail-us-out-race-against-time-for-much-loved-greater-manchester-cafe-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/696911\/","title":{"rendered":"“We\u2019re relying on people to bail us out\u201d – Race against time for much-loved Greater Manchester caf\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

The group says it needs to raise \u00a310k to keep the caf\u00e9 and charity afloat<\/p>\n

16:44, 14 Jan 2026Updated 16:53, 14 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Tea Room is at risk of closure (Image: Friends of Victoria Park )<\/p>\n

Owners of a beloved community caf\u00e9 and charity say it is just days away from closing for good. Trustees of the Friends of Victoria Park (FOVPS) say they are in a race against time to raise \u00a310k by the end of the month.<\/p>\n

The news comes after bosses say they are facing challenges to keep their caf\u00e9 opening amid rising energy, supply, and staffing costs.<\/p>\n

FOVPS is a volunteer-led organisation headquartered in Victoria Park, Stretford<\/a>. The group was created in 2003 by a team of dedicated locals who wanted to improve the once neglected park.<\/p>\n

Since then, it has evolved into a charity that runs a popular caf\u00e9 called ‘The Tea Room’ and also delivers community events, supports local businesses while working with residents and partners to ensure the park remains safe and inclusive.<\/p>\n

\"Nadia<\/p>\n

Nadia says the building cannot survive a ‘temporary closure'(Image: )<\/p>\n

Operational manger, Nadia Gubba, told the M.E.N that the team have carried out multiple methods to keep costs down in 2025, but to no avail.<\/p>\n

She said: “In the last 12 months it\u2019s been so difficult. We tend to do better in the summer months and there’s always a lull in the winter months.<\/p>\n

“So, we try to put on events. We really cater for lower income families who are struggling with cost of living.<\/p>\n

“They’re the families that are completely ignored. They’re the families who don’t have the disposal income to take their children to events and we work really hard to make things affordable.<\/p>\n

“We came back from Christmas<\/a> and our trustees looked at our finances and it was really dire. We all came back after a really busy December and the decision was, if we don’t raise \u00a310k by the end of January, then it’s just not sustainable to keep the building open.”<\/p>\n

According to the group’s JustGiving page<\/a>, the \u00a310k will prevent a ‘temporary closure’, Nadia told the M.E.N that should they fail to reach the target could see the end of an important community resource.<\/p>\n

“The reality is, we wouldn’t survive a closure even for a couple of months. We’d understandably lose our staff.<\/p>\n

“In this day and age, who can afford to be out of work for a couple of months?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no magic money tree, there\u2019s no council fund to bail us out. We\u2019re relying on people to bail us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Trafford<\/a> Council said: \u201cThe Victoria Park Tea Room is a great asset and is very popular with dog walkers and park lovers throughout the Stretford community. We are sad to hear that the facility is struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Council has a close partnership with the charity which runs the caf\u00e9 and we will work with them to help them to try and find a solution to their funding issue. However, the council is not responsible for the day-to-day funding of the caf\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The group says it needs to raise \u00a310k to keep the caf\u00e9 and charity afloat 16:44, 14 Jan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,35745,393,4884,2465,8836,1289,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-696911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-stretford","14":"tag-trafford","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115897317874814447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}