Staff 'shellshocked' by park cafe closures
LDRSTwo cafes in city parks are closing with the local council claiming they are no longer financially viable.
Newcastle City Council said the closures at Paddy Freeman's Park and Exhibition Park were due to a "continued decline in their popularity and an increase in running costs".
The Paddy Freeman's site was shut with immediate effect on Tuesday and staff transferred to the Exhibition Park cafe which will remain open for "at least two weeks" before its eventual closure.
Victoria Fyffe, a regular customer at the Exhibition Park cafe, said staff were "shellshocked" by the announcement. Council bosses said the 13 employees affected would be given the chance to apply for other jobs.
The city council took over the cafes in March 2025 when it regained control of the city's parks from the charity Urban Green.
But officials said the two sites "are affected by seasonal demand" and had not achieved "any significant increase in sales" despite investment.
They claimed closing the cafes would save taxpayers more than £200,000 per year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
A spokesperson for the Parks Service said: "We recognise that the cafes bring additional value to our park users.
"However, their ability to generate the income needed to cover their costs is heavily impacted by weather, seasonal demand and increasing operating costs."
They said the buildings will remain part of the Parks Service and they would consider opportunities to bring them back into use.
