City farm cafe looking set for an Easter weekend opening
Bath City Farm has set the opening date of their new cafe as building work is progressing well.
The community farm has wanted to build a cafe for 26 years and it finally secured the half a million pounds needed to start construction last year.
After breaking ground on the site in September the team now thinks the cafe will be ready to open this Easter.
Before Christmas a major milestone was met with the roof going on.
A spokeswoman for the farm said: “We’re so excited! To have an indoor community space will be terrific.
“One which will not be impacted by the weather and will give people including our volunteers, wonderful opportunities to learn and to train as well as opportunities to taste our farm-reared meat, vegetables and fruit.
“There’ll be space for 30 to 40 people indoors and two outdoor terraces from where people can enjoy a coffee or lunch as they take in views over Bath.”
The spokesperson also explained that they have raised further money to make the building ‘low energy’ and accessible. They said: “We’ve been successful in raising some further money towards the new cafe project. Bath and West Community Energy has given us £5,000 towards an air source heat pump helping us make it a low energy building.
“Bath Disability Trust gave us £15, 000 towards an accessible toilet, helping make it accessible.
“We’re thinking what we’re going to do with our edible garden and what sort of fruit trees we might plant, thinking about farm produce for the cafe. We’re aiming to open Easter weekend.”
Run as a community business, all the profits from the cafe will be reinvested in the farm.
This will include supporting the farm’s volunteer programmes and helping to provide funds to feed the animals.
It will also provide work experience
opportunities for the farm’s volunteers in catering and hospitality.
Funds for the cafe have been secured over the last three years from several different sources, including a grant from the Bathbased St John’s Foundation, which
paid for architects to be appointed to design the cafe.
Funds have also been secured from the Bath and North East Somerset Community Infrastructure Levy fund, the Power to Change Community Business Fund, and Enovert.