Rose Garden Cafe: Popular Sheffield park venue packed out with visitors in first days of reopening

The reopening took place on Wednesday (August 7) with delighted customers queuing up to support the venue, now renamed Dukes Of Rose Garden Cafe. The interior underwent a speedy spruce-up ahead of the opening, with new flooring, furniture and fittings.

Julie Collins and Kelsey Booth, who now operate the cafe on behalf of Sheffield City Councill, and their staff said they were run off their feet for the first two days of reopening. Julie was the manager of the cafe when it was closed and she has been part of the campaign to save it.

The building was able to reopen after an independent structural assessment showed that the roof was sound, meaning most of the extensive scaffolding erected by the council could be removed. That has allowed customers to return to enjoy its full facilities.

The cafe had been shut at short notice in July 2022 by Sheffield City Council after reports on the state of the building raised concerns that the building was not safe to stay open. It was eventually able to operate as a takeaway only with extensive scaffolding in place, following a public outcry at the idea that it could face demolition.

The public protests led to the council changing their minds and a partnership bringing together the council with the Friends of Graves Park and the Save the Rose Garden cafe campaign is now working to secure the future of the cafe. The partnership’s work includes raising the money to restore the building and do work to repair the lean in the front wall.

The reopening event was attended by hundreds of people who were queuing out of the door by 9.30am. Caroline Dewar, the chair of the Friends of Graves Park, gave a speech retracing how the cafe had got to this position and what the future holds.

Liz Hnat from the Save the Rose Garden Cafe campaign spoke about the impact of getting 11,000 signatures on the petition she launched as one of the predominant reasons for the victory and getting the cafe reopened.

Coun Richard Williams, who is chair of Sheffield City Council’s charity trustee sub-committee and has actively supported the campaign, congratulated everybody on their hard work and perseverance. His committee oversees the charitable trust that owns the park on behalf of the council.

At some stage in the future, the cafe will have to close temporarily to undertake structural work on the front wall plus retiling the roof. Work will include the refurbishment elements that people asked for during a public consultation on what customers want to see for the future of the building.

Andy Kershaw from the Rose Garden Cafe Partnership said: “Our next job is to arrive at a fundraising target based on the estimates for those works. We’ll be asking everybody to get behind the mammoth fundraising campaign will be seeking individual donations, grants and support from the likes of the Heritage Lottery Fund and others.

“It was nice after nearly two years to walk into the reopened cafe and to really believe that we’ve been instrumental together in saving such an important part of Sheffield‘s heritage, which people love and want to see preserved for the next 100 years.”