A café was originally opened as part of a £3.5million revamp of the park in 2013, but has been mostly empty since the pandemic
The long-closed Wandle Park café in Croydon will soon reopen its doors under new management, after a licensing application to allow it to sell alcohol was brought before councillors.
The licence holder has moved to reassure the public the sale of alcohol is only intended to add to the offering for people wanting to relax in the park’s calm surroundings, and attend local events.
“We are not here to serve alcohol to those who you find hanging around in the park who buy cheap drink from the corner shop and then come to the park to consume it,” said Glenard Patnelli, the tenant hoping to revive the café after years of instability.
The café was the centrepiece of the park’s 2013 restoration, which reportedly cost Croydon Council £3.5million. Wandle Park is Croydon’s only Green Flag-accredited park and regularly hosts major public events such as Croydon Pride.
It is also easily accessible by bus and tram, making it one of the borough’s most visited open spaces. After opening to much fanfare in July 2014, the café closed during the Covid-19 lockdown after the previous leaseholder moved on.
Before closure, it served a range of food and drinks and regularly hosted children’s parties and charity groups. Crucially, the café also contains the only free and accessible toilet in the park and is the only lit premises on site.
Earlier this year café was briefly used for squatting and events by the Reclaim Croydon group, before the council evicted them. However, despite frequent pressure from councillors and residents, the café has up to this point failed to secure a long-serving tenant.
Mr Patnelli, of Joal Miez Holdings Ltd, spoke at a Croydon Council licensing meeting on Monday (November 10), where councillors discussed his application to sell alcohol and host community events at the café, which is set to open on December 15.
The proposed licence also covers live and recorded music and dance performances, but all within daytime hours. The application would allow the café to serve beer and wine from 10am to 6pm.
However, several objections were lodged by nearby residents against the original application, which initially proposed alcohol sales between 10am and 11pm.
One Cornwall Road resident, whose property sits near the café, described the original licence as a “backdoor way of having a change of use as a party venue”.
Another wrote: “Alcohol, seriously? In a park already plagued by drugs, crime, antisocial behaviour, even rapes, plus an attempted murder on the edge of the park a few years ago, you want to add alcohol sales for up to 13 hours a day?”
Following a meeting with a police licensing officer, Mr Patnelli amended the application and reduced its hours to address concerns about antisocial behaviour. He said: “The public say we don’t want bar culture in the park, and that is definitely not the case.”
To calm fears the café could turn into a drinking spot, Mr Patnelli said only seated diners ordering food would be allowed to buy beer and wine, with no spirits to be served. Asked by Labour Councillor Jess Hammersley-Rich if a packet of crisps would count as a meal, he replied that it would not.
He told councillors the café’s goal is to create a safe, community-focused space. He added that any events held at the café would be “low impact on the community” and that the site would include CCTV for safety.
He has also spoken with local police about adding Wandle Park to their regular patrol route, which he said could help reduce antisocial behaviour. “In fact, the presence of the café might deter anti-social behaviour in the park,” he said.
Mr Patnelli, whose organisation already runs activities as part of the council’s Holiday and Food Programme which supports children during school breaks, said no specific events are currently planned, with future activities dependent on council funding.
He recently held a community meeting with residents and the Friends of Wandle Park, organised by Waddon councillors Rowenna Davis and Ellily Ponnuthurai, to discuss the plans. “By the end of the meeting most of the residents understood our position,” he said, though he admitted the session “was not well attended”.
A decision on whether the licence will be approved is expected to be announced next week.
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