Petition for Golders Hill Park cafe

Posted by Indijana Harper on April 4, 2016 at 12:49pm in Community News, Info, Issues

One of my boys' top-choice school holidays' daily excursions when little was going to "other" parks on double decker buses and having children's meals in their cafes; and in each they each had different favourites. The Golders Hill Park cafe was always voted the best (you can still take the 102 bus to Golders Green and the park is a very short walk away).

Now the family-owned cafe is to be replaced by a chain. Our parks lose their distinctive features as their playgrounds get standardised and the cafes handed over to high-street chains. It is all becoming too same-ly to provide opportunities for cherished childhood memories. Please sign the petition below. And try visit the cafe while it is still there.

https://www.change.org/p/city-of-london-corporation-save-golders-hill-park-cafe?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=554597&alert_id=ZbtJjQhisI_m8hiBWsCBX3gCEflhwqeI0FOCwPh331WGrZtEHEp8KU%3D

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Replies

Ruth Miller April 12, 2016 at 6:30pm

Benugo has withdrawn but the future of the café is still to be decided. Golders Hill Café this Saturday, 1pm... complimentary buffet and opportunity to sign the petition and discuss future plans for the café.
Susie Holden April 10, 2016 at 11:02am

Picnic celebration at Parliament Hill

The Refreshment House Golders Hill Park

There is a picnic celebration event at Parliament Hill Fields today ( Sunday ) hosted by the D'auria family, all welcome. The event starts at 1.pm.
Ruth Miller April 8, 2016 at 10:01am

Wow, Benugo have pulled out, stating that they've listened and it's the right thing to do. Stunning victory for people power. City of London to re-tender the 3 contracts – let's hope they get it right next time.
Stephen Middleton April 8, 2016 at 8:28am

FYI I went to the Golders Hill Park café yesterday at five to five ordered soup and was told kitchen closing 5pm. I asked them to check and - no problem - lovely soup came. The cynic in me would say that they trying to keep people onside at this time - but that's a good thing.
Indijana Harper April 7, 2016 at 8:55pm

Thank you very much Ruth! Wow, a chain pulled out - that does not happen often.

Hopefully the City of London Corporation consult the parks users more in future. And on that note, I must sing praises to "our" Ally Pally Park - the board and the management and Friends of the Park are all brilliant I think - transparent, inclusive, dynamic... The park keeps improving and improving. I just noticed (from W3 bus) that the shrubbery by the bend in Palace Way (where the path leads under the old railway bridge to Dukes Ave) has been cloud pruned - it looks lovely. And there is a talk on geological features of the park coming up - check Friends of the Park notices (I want to hear more on the great moraine, so will be there). We are lucky!
Ruth Miller April 7, 2016 at 7:58pm

Clarification on what’s happening...leases on 5 cafés were put out to tender: Parliament Hill, Golders Hill Park, Parliament Hill Lido, Queen’s Park and Highgate Woods (apologies, Indijana, you were right about HW being part of the current tender process). Benugo has been awarded 3 of the 5 leases, at Parliament Hill, Golders Hill Park and Highgate Woods; a start-up has been awarded the Parliament Hill Lido café and other company won Queen’s Park.

People who fancy an outing to the local woods/park/Heath and a cup of tea/coffee will have a choice of Benugo, Benugo or Benugo. Petitions have collected over 24,000 signatures in 3 weeks. Around 300 people attended a public meeting in Highgate last night. Speakers included the local MP (Keir Starmer), a local councillor, and 2 representatives from City of London Corporation (but no one from Benugo). Quite clear that the process lacked consultation, transparency and objectivity. Current status is that the new leases are with solicitors for signing and are due to take effect on 9 May. As long as the leases aren’t signed, there’s scope for a review of the decisions. The outcome of the meeting was to request a halt to the process to allow time for review. A demo is planned for this Sunday (10 April) at 1pm at the Parliament Hill café – a large turnout is expected.
- Annabel Gregory > Ruth Miller April 7, 2016 at 8:01pm
  
  Just heard that Benugo have announced they're pulling out from taking over the 3 cafes!
Ruth Miller April 6, 2016 at 5:52pm

For anyone thinking of attending the public meeting this evening, the venue has been changed to Brookfield School, Chester Road N19 5DH. Meeting starts at 7.45. Seems like a large turnout is expected, hence the bigger venue.
Ruth Miller April 5, 2016 at 3:29pm

Not sure about Queen's Wood café, Indiana, but I think it's still independent. It's smaller and off the beaten track so probably of less interest to a chain – they pick off the ones with the highest profit potential. Apparently there were 28 bids for the Parliament Hill café so, presumably, Benugo submitted the highest bid and outgunned the independents.
Indijana Harper April 5, 2016 at 11:36am

Thanks for the extra information Ruth. Queen's Wood - is it still chain free?

I have been critical of the Council's leasing out of park cafes without tender as it leads to patronage, but am now uncertain. Small businesses can't compete with big chains on paper - it is the add on value, difficult to formulate, that makes them more valuable than chains.

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