Update!
Rose Garden Cafe Latest:
Agreed Communications:
Cafe Reopened in full 7th August!
15th november 2024
Chris Hill from Wainwrights, the architect for the project, attended our meeting and reported that cost consultants and structural and civil engineers have now been appointed for the project.
He presented to us his initial RIBA stage 1design plans for the exterior of the building and four options for the internal layout of the seating, kitchen, servery, hire & play space and access points into the cafe, which we discussed and gave feedback to Chris.
Our next steps are to seek further advice from an expert on the flow, purpose and use of the interior layout. Chris was thanked for all his work thus far. We also discussed the feedback we had from the Heritage Lottery Fund and we will be responding to the points they have raised.
We will be presenting an update on our work to the Local Area Committee on Tuesday 3rd Dec and to the Charity Trust Sub-committee on 21st January.
Our next meeting is Friday December 20th.
25th October 2024
- We held a positive meeting with the National Lottery Heritage Fund this week, to discuss our plans to bid for funds for the restoration at the end of December.
- We’ve also set up a community fundraising group which met on Monday, to progress some excellent ideas for fundraising activities and events for the café restoration appeal, (join us on 25th November at 6pm if you’d like to come along for the next meeting)
- A team at Sheffield Council have been meeting regularly to outline proposals for the layout of the café based on last Summer’s public consultation and they will present their options at our next Rose Garden Cafe Partnership meeting on 13th December.
- We’ve raised an impressive £12,761 from our (Friends of Graves Park) JustGiving page and other donations and 10p from every coffee sold in the café is also being donated to the appeal from the Dukes team at the café.
- The Council is developing an asset management strategy for all it’s heritage and other assets across the city and this includes the Rose Garden Cafe.
- We’ve requested the £25,000 of funding promised by local councillors in Graves Park, Greenhill and Beauchief, towards the preliminary costs (design architects, surveyors etc) and the council is also contributing £150,000 from its own essential compliance and maintenance fund.
- For more details of our progress and future plans go to the Partnerships ‘Have Your Say’ page https://haveyoursay.sheffield.gov.uk/rose-garden-cafe
27th september 2024
‘Good news ! £12,326 has been raised for the Rose Garden Cafe via the Friends of Graves Park and £608.10 has been donated so far by Julie & Kelsey, the operators of ‘Dukes on the Rose Garden’ which is donating 10p from every cup of coffee sold in the cafe. So, thank you for your help so far.
We’re also planning to draw down the £25,000 (CIL) funding committed by local councillors to pay for architects, design and survey fees. The council is also contributing to this from its Essential Compliance and Maintenance fund.
We have also agreed to hold a community fundraising meeting on Monday 21st October at 6.30pm in the Rose Garden Cafe in Graves Park.
We also met with the SCC design team to develop the delivery plan for the restoration project and met the team on site and looked at the options for the design brief and in particular the cafe operator’s requirements in providing a modern cafe environment for staff and customers.
Members of the partnership spoke at an event organised by the Sheffield ‘Festival of the Mind’ in the spiegeltent in Barkers Pool on Tuesday 24th September. More than 50 people attended this and it was well received.’
All of our fundraising plans will be published on the Partnership’s ‘Have Your Say’ page:
https://haveyoursay.sheffield.gov.uk/rose-garden-cafe
6TH SEPTEMBER 2024
‘We are now seeking your help to raise £25,000 which is 10% of the cost of repairing the front wall of the cafe. We are halfway there towards this target and we need your help to achieve this.
We went through the cost estimates (£2m) for the full restoration of the cafe and assessed what is essential and what is desirable in order to reduce the overall costs and to access offers of pro-bono or in-kind support for the restoration. We are going full steam ahead towards fundraising for this
objective.
We discussed a draft legacy statement for the cafe building which will outline how the cafe will be used and maintained following the restoration.
A full calendar of fundraising events will be published shortly and we need your help to get involved.’
Just a reminder to everyone that the partnership is made up of representatives from the Save the Rose Garden Café group, Friends of Graves Park and Sheffield City Council.
9th august 2024
‘We welcomed Councillor Richard Williams the Chair of the council’s Charity Trustee Sub-committee, who visited us to observe the partnership discussions. We discussed the successful reopening of the Rose Garden Cafe on Wed 7th August and we were overjoyed at the reaction of the residents of Sheffield and supporters who returned in their hundreds to enjoy the café, its internal seating and facilities. We reviewed the new 10 year Heritage Lottery Strategy to understand their four funding principles and how our ambition and funding requirements for the restoration of the cafe fits within these principles.
We discussed the initial design cost estimate for the full restoration and refurbishment works which are circa £2m. We also reviewed the design team fees for the independent quotes to take us up to the critical RIBA Stage 2 design which will be sufficient to satisfy a funder. The Rose Garden Cafe Partnership has already identified a budget of up to £75,000 needed for those fees from funds made available by the council from LAC funding and its own Essential Compliance and Maintenance Fund.
We heard a positive report from the last meeting of the Council’s Charity Trustee Sub-Committee which will next meet on 9th September and will focus on the funding element and the reopening of the cafe. Our next Partnership meeting is Friday 6th September 2024.’
19th July 2024
‘We discussed the timetable for the removal of the internal scaffolding, replacing the flooring and the re-opening of the cafe on Weds 7th August 2024 at 9:00am. We are having a special ‘Grand Re-opening’ event for everyone to join us for this milestone.
Members of the Rose Garden Cafe Partnership will have an information and fundraising stall in the cafe on this date to update you on our fundraising plans and next steps for the restoration and refurbishment of the cafe.
We will have an estimated cost plan for the restoration and refurbishment for our next Partnership meeting on 9th August 2024.
We also discussed current, proposed fundraising ideas, activity and potential funding sources of grants. This includes local sponsored walks and ongoing fundraising by the Friends of Graves Park which has raised £11,193.14 via donations, which will be the main focus of our next meeting.
We are providing a further progress report to the Council’s Charity Trustee Sub-Committee on September 9th 2024.
December 2025 is the 100th anniversary of the grant of the land by JG Graves and it is our ambition to have the Rose Garden Cafe fully restored and refurbished by this date.’
10th june 2024
“Come and talk to the Partnership on 6th July at the Mount View Methodist Chapel between 10:30 and 15:00 as part of the Digging Deeper for All celebration open day. We will meet the structural engineer on July 1st and she will present her findings into the front wall with the final report issued on July 5th. Fundraising activities are ramping up, join David on his fundraising walks on 29th June and 7th July. The Charity Trustee Sub-Committee has been rescheduled for 16th July where we will deliver a progress update to the Committee.”
24th May 2024
“‘We discussed the scope of works required for a comprehensive design scheme for the cafe, based on the recent public consultations and the forthcoming appointment of an architect to produce a full design scheme and estimate for the required works.
We also discussed the future management of potential sources of funding for the cafe and agreed a timetable for the presentation of the final report into the ground investigations undertaken by the structural engineer, which will be available at the end of June.
We also agreed the details of an updated report and representation from the partnership to the Council’s Charity Trusts Sub-Committee on 24th June 2024 about our next steps.
Fundraising activities for the restoration of the cafe are continuing by all parties involved.’”
10th May 2024
“We are excited to share the summary of the recent public consultation about the Rose Garden Café to be published next week. We now know that we received responses from across the city, from the Stocksbridge Valley in the north to Chesterfield in the south and beyond, demonstrating
just how widely the café is used.
“The new structural investigations will be undertaken in the next couple of weeks and the report will follow. Both of these things are informing the design brief and costings of the restoration and refurbishment.
“A new poster will be in the café and animal farm about how you can contribute and donate to the current appeal for the restoration.”
26th April 2024
“A huge thank you to everybody that participated in the public consultation. We received 1557 responses to date packed with great ideas; these will be invaluable in our funding bids. Results will be shared soon and will inform the restoration and refurbishment.
“The structural engineer is making good progress. They have identified some additional investigations needed which will put back our original timeline for the report. When we have a new timeline we will share this with you.
“We discussed avenues of funding and to support this we are promoting our Just Giving Café fundraising page. There will be posters in the Café, around the park and local area.”
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/RoseGardenCafeGravesPark?invite=true
12th April 2o24
“We discussed the progress on the consultation survey which is currently happening and which closes on 19th April. We are holding a further event in Graves Park on Saturday 13th April from 09.00am-2.00pm and we urge people who haven’t yet completed it, to do so before the deadline. We are expecting the results of the structural engineer’s report into the problems with the wall in Mid-May.”
2nd February 2024
On 2nd February 2024, the partnership moved forward and agreed on the appointment of an appropriate engineer to assess the issue with the front wall of the café and develop a structural design. We also discussed methods of consultation to establish what people would like from the restoration and refurbishment beyond a brew and a butty. (This consultation is essential to the project, as we will need the resulting evidence to submit with any funding applications we make.) SCC will continue to assume liability of the café and restoration with the Partnership as an advisory body.
Just a reminder to everyone that the partnership is made up of representatives from the Save the Rose Garden Café group, Friends of Graves Park and Sheffield City Council.
Rose Garden Café Restoration Latest 12th January 2024
“The Friends had a good meeting within the Rose Garden Café Partnership Group today. The route to appoint a structural engineer who is either on the Conservation Accredited Register of Engineers (CARE) or has heritage experience, originally discussed last year, is now in the process of being actioned ahead of the next partnership meeting on 2nd February. At the next meeting, we will focus on two key items, funding applications and public engagement (including consultation), so we will be preparing and collating information on these two areas with a view to making focussed decisions on 2nd February. We also met with a chair applicant and made further progress to appointing a chair. A lot is going on in the background!
“The most important thing for the Friends is that we are still moving things along in the background and all the partners are acutely aware that there is an urgency to getting the restoration project off the ground. Once the structural engineers and the architect have done their work, we will be able to put together a business/action plan, which we need before we can apply for any funding. Progress has been made!”
Please continue to donate and spread the word about our Restoration Project! If we can raise £25,000 ourselves, this will show potential funding providers the local commitment to our cause.
Please be confident that your donations will be used for the restoration of the Rose Garden Café and the Friends will make sure that all money is very wisely spent.
As before, we will continue to keep you updated; in the meantime, now that the restoration option has been approved by the council and the partnership has been set up between the council, the Save the Rose Garden Café group and the Friends of Graves Park, any and all offers of help and donations will be gratefully received.
Please spread the word and let’s get people donating to our fundraiser! (See details below)
The Story so far…
Originally built in 1927, what is now the Rose Garden Cafe was opened by J. G. Graves to complement the recently established Graves Park. Click on this link to Joined up Heritage Sheffield to find out more about its history.
The cafe has been a popular and much loved attraction for generations of Graves Park users.
On 18th September 2023 the Rose Garden Cafe was listed on the South Yorkshire Local Heritage Register.
Rose Garden Café in Danger
In early summer 2022 Sheffield City Council carried out a survey of the café, decided the building was unsafe and closed it. Temporary safety measures have been put in place and the café is now partially open with a largely takeaway service.
Latest on the Rose Garden Café Restoration
On 18th October 2023, the Charity Subcommittee met at the Town Hall for a special meeting to decide the way forward regarding the Rose Garden Café. The Friends of Graves Park were in attendance, as well as the Save the Rose Garden Café group and both groups presented questions to the committee, after which the councillors spoke and asked questions of the council officers.
The resulting vote and decision was:
1. The proposal for Sheffield City Council, in partnership with stakeholders, to develop a Strategy for the restoration of the Rose Garden Café building (options 2A and 2B), pausing work on a replacement building approach (design options 3 and 4), and a limited works approach (design options 1 and 5).
2. That the Rose Garden Café Partnership once established creates an action plan to develop the strategy for restoration, which will include defining the following:
· A framework for a proportionate public consultation on the Rose Garden Café.
· Establish funding sources to meet the structural remediation and building refurbishment works.
· Agree a strategy for public communication.
https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=32538
This appears to be good news and the Friends of Graves Park will be pushing for action as soon as possible. While we are still not happy that more time and money is going to be wasted on a public consultation, we have stressed the need for this to be kept to an absolute minimum, as have the Save the Rose Garden Café group. We all feel that a petition of over 11,500 signatures, as well as a fundraising campaign of, so far, nearly £9000, is enough proof of the level of public feeling regarding this issue.
However, we must try to remain positive and work together to get this moving as soon as possible. The Friends and the SRGC group will therefore closely monitor any proposed consultation. In the meantime, there is no reason why the structure cannot be restored. Now that the building is on the Local List for its heritage value, it should be restored and kept with its original features, so no major changes or alterations to its appearance will be required.
The first step is for the reason for the lean on the front elevation to be established, before the restoration of the structure can be planned. (The Friends and their surveyor have been asking for this since March 2023, hopefully it will now happen). The Friends hope that this can be done by the end of the year, if the will is there.
The Friends of Graves Park and the Save the Rose Garden Café group will be meeting imminently to discuss the way forward and to kick-start a boost to the fundraising campaign. When it comes to applying for funding, the more money we have raised from the local community, the better. We also need to start pulling together the offers of pro bono professional support and labour (of which we have quite a bit), as well as offers of materials.
Regarding fundraising, past and potential donors can now be confident that their donations will be used for the restoration of the Rose Garden Café and the Friends will make sure that all money is wisely spent.
We will continue to keep you updated; in the meantime, now that the restoration option has been approved by the council, any and all offers of help and donations will be gratefully received.
Please spread the word and let’s get people donating to our fundraiser.
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/RoseGardenCafeGravesPark?invite=true
or by BACS transfer, confirming with email:
Please pay “Friends of Graves Park”
Bank Details:- Sort Code 30-97-51 A/c No. 03370075
If you have any offers of support, please get in touch. Spread the word!
You could also consider joining the Friends of Graves Park. For £3 a year you can add your name to our Friends group and we can show the council how many people support us.
Walking to Save the Rose Garden Cafe
There have been a series of walks to support the campaign which have raised over £800.
If you want to sponsor our walkers, or make a donation to the Save the Rose Garden Cafe fundraiser, from the comfort of your own home, please visit our JustGiving page (above).
