Priory park cafe

[happy eaters]

Having spent yet another afternoon in Priory park desperate for a coffee and with hungry kids I am completely bewildered why the cafe has been shut all summer.  anyone know what is going on with it?

[Adrian Essex]

That is definitely a shame. Presumably it was not making money. It was only just a year ago I wrote here about the sale of the lease. The rent does not seem too demanding. I guess somebody took it up, but maybe Haringey chose a bad tenant. It may be worth following up, as coffee shops seem to do well in Crouch End itself.

[Charlotte Thompson]

Yes, it is a shame. The cafe is a key facility of the Park and we all miss it. The committee of the Friends of Priory Park, of which I'm a member, has been harrying the Parks Department ever since Bryan left the cafe in April. The new tenant was expected to do some minor refurbishment and reopen. We wondered about the huge crack in the back wall, the rotting wooden cladding etc... Eventually we gathered that the lease was being renegotiated because of the major repairs needed, which we think are expected to cost about £60k. (Which would not have been necessary if the Council had maintained the building.) A notice was put up. Nothing happened. Now, another notice has gone up on the Park gates telling us that work began on Weds 12 Sept and the cafe building has been boarded up.

We continue to wait. Let's just hope the Council is better at building works than leases... I'm not holding my breath.

[Adrian Essex]

[Betty M]

What would be good is if the new leaseholder actually wants to run a cafe where a large proportion of the customers are children. I have never really felt the love from the cafe people in the last few years. The ability to make a decent cup of coffee would also be good. There are a few examples in Crouch End and environs they could follow.

[Amanda Simpson]

It's going to re open at some point which will be great on particularly hot days, kids love the pool but dull with no facilities for adults and missed them this year. If you want somewhere great for kids & Coffee though, Milly and Theo discovered the fabulous Little Dinosaurs this year  and I can't keep them away. The staff are great and it's such a lovely place in any weather with great food and coffee.