Fears cafe closure could affect Parkrun numbers
BBCA cafe's closure could lead to fewer people taking part in a Parkrun, one of the event's volunteers says.
Newcastle City Council recently announced plans to shut two cafes in Exhibition Park and Paddy Freeman's Park and said keeping them open would cost the taxpayer £200,000 a year.
Jocasta Williams, who takes part and volunteers at the Town Moor Parkrun, said the closure of the Exhibition Park cafe, and its toilet facilities, would deter her and others from taking part in the run.
The council said the cafes had suffered from a "continued decline in their popularity, and an increase in running costs".
Williams said after completing the Town Moor event many runners spent the morning at the Exhibition Park cafe and it had become part of the "experience".
"[The closure] would push me to go to other Parkruns," she said.
"I would choose a Parkrun with a cafe nearby."
Jocasta WilliamsWilliams said the closure of the cafes left both parks without toilets, which could force families to make "much shorter visits".
"It would mean that parents wouldn't go to the park if they know there's no toilet facilities," she said.
"It might lead to public health issues if children and adults have to go in the bushes."
The council has been asked to comment on the closure of the toilet facilities, but in comments made to residents online it suggested people could use toilets in the city centre instead.
Williams said the council should have kept the cafes open while it "proactively" searched for a private company to take them over.
"It makes it harder for a business to take it on when it's closed because people have stopped going in," she said,
"You need to get them going again."
The cafe at Paddy Freeman's Park closed on Tuesday and the Exhibition Park cafe is set to close in the coming weeks.