On Monday 22 July, a new community cafe was opened at William Lee, Park Road in Calverton following the completion of a large extension to the Village Hall earlier in 2024.
Back in 2021, an exciting proposal was put forward by some of the recently elected Parish Councillors, about an extension to the Village Hall at William Lee, Park Road. It would house new parish council offices, and a conference room.
Initially some of the current Councillors were against this proposal, so councillors Andy Meads and Lorraine Brown set about and devised a Business Plan for the Village Hall with plans and costings to have an extension.
In addition to the a conference room and offices, there would be a groundsman’s workshop, replacing the portacabins at William Lee Park, and three self-contained “community units”. Two of the units would be hired out for community events, children’s parties and various voluntary groups that wish to hold smaller group sessions instead of having to book the main hall or when the main hall is already in use.
The business plan was put to the parish council for approval in December 2021, and was subsequently passed, with a fixed overall budget. The parish council did not use the services of any architect, project manager or consultants, instead Cllr Andy Meads took responsibility for the whole project, from submitting the plans to final acceptance.
Wherever possible, subcontractors from Calverton have been employed on the build. The new extension, approaching 5,000 square feet interfaces seamlessly with the existing village hall, which is already large for such a community building.
The ambitious project to have a permanent on-site community café in the third unit has recently completed and the parish council chose Liam Hall, from Calverton to be the tenant from a number of applicants, and it finally opened last week.
It has been a busy start for Liam, with an extremely high demand. The café serves fully cooked breakfasts, jacket potatoes, hot and cold savoury and sweet pastries and filled cobs, paninis, and even chips, all to eat in or takeaway. Along with all that, Liam sells snacks, sweets, chocolate, a wide range of drinks and slush puppies.
The parish council have just awarded a contract to a paving company to have a large outdoor seating area in front of the café.
Liam said: “Starting any new business is always a risk, but I have been coming to this park since I was a boy, and I have always known it has cried out for a café. The response from the community has been amazing, I cannot thank the village enough for supporting me this first week, and working with Calverton parish council has been great, more like a partnership than dealing with a landlord. The chairman of the council (Andy Meads) oversaw the café fit out, met environmental health with me before we started, and even did all the plumbing himself.”
The cafe is the final phase of the village hall extension but the parish council are continually upgrading facilities on the park. A new five acre wildlife area was opened a day after the café, and in the last year the parish council has installed new twin zip wires, climbing nets, had new paths built, reinstated two of the old football pitches and increased the size of the car park. Other major improvements are planned later this year and into 2025 also.