Cafe Reopens at Recreation Ground
The Rec Cafe is set to open on Tuesday, August 1, in Kingston Recreation Ground in Fratton.
Transcript
00:00 Wendy Watson and I'm Tanya Ship. So tell me where we are and what's going to be happening here soon?
00:05 We are in the Rec Cafe in Kingston Recreation Ground. We are opening, well reopening, after
00:14 the cafe's been closed for about 18 months and we wanted to bring it back as the community wanted
00:20 it open again after being closed for so long. And we've had lots of help from the council,
00:28 the Hive and Frat and Big Local and also the community. And the community, yeah they've
00:34 donated lots actually, they've been really good. Fabulous. All thanks to Facebook. Yeah.
00:40 So how does it feel to be opening again? Scary but exciting. Yeah, amazing. We've done it for our
00:50 mental health and we want this to be a safe hub for people that may just be lonely or just need
00:57 a chat. We just want them to come in. So tell me what the plans are for the cafe? Well we're starting
01:02 off small first to see what people like and then obviously we'll grow our menu as time goes on.
01:11 This area is going to be a seating area so it's going to be like a proper cafe.
01:15 We are dog friendly, we've got lots of doggy treats. Yeah. So bring your dogs in, you're
01:20 allowed to come in with your dogs. And we are hoping to do parties, that will be in the future
01:28 obviously once we are more established. Yeah and we'll obviously do things in the park as well,
01:35 bring and buy sales and things like that, tabletop sales and things like that.
01:40 So we'll be celebrating events like Halloween, Eid, Christmas, obviously for all different
01:48 people. Ethnics of the community. So tell me what you think the residents of Bratton and Portsmouth
01:57 are going to think of it? Hopefully they'll love it. Yeah. The feedback that we've had from the
02:05 people that we've talked to as we've been setting up has been really positive. They're all glad
02:12 that we're opening back up, especially the dog walkers and mums with the children, because if
02:19 they forget their drink they can come and get one off us. There was lots of demand for it to be
02:23 reopened obviously, hence why we're here and making that happen. And it all started off with just a
02:29 simple comment, yeah, I wonder if we could have it. Phone call to the council and here we are.
02:34 Wish you the best of luck. Thank you.