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Park pavilion in Nelson set to become a cafe

8:00pm Thursday 17th January 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Peter Magill , Chief reporter

Louise Hoole, left, and Petra Wilson at the pavilion in Victoria Park, Nelson, which they hope to transform into a cafe and community hub. Louise Hoole, left, and Petra Wilson at the pavilion in Victoria Park, Nelson, which they hope to transform into a cafe and community hub.

AMBITIOUS plans to turn a park pavilion into a community cafe are a step closer thanks to a regeneration programme.

Louise Hoole and Petra Wilson have been hoping to reopen the Victoria Park pavilion in Nelson, which has been closed for more than six years.

Now they say they are indebted to the assistance offered by the Pennine LEAP business start-up programme.

The pair received free coaching on setting up the social enterprise from one of the LEAP partners, Selnet (Social Enterprise Lancashire Network).

Their dream is to launch a cafe at a revamped pavilion- and supply it with produce from their own kitchen garden.

Louise said: “Support was there for us right from the beginning of our journey.

“Pennine LEAP and the team at Selnet gave us the confidence that our idea could work and that we can run a successful social enterprise.

“Any questions and concerns are resolved no matter big or small they might be.

“Having their support through Pennine LEAP has been invaluable and, most importantly of all, they believe in us.”

The social enterprise, set to be ‘carbon neutral’, will also offer volunteering opportunities and plough any profits back into the firm.

Louise and Petra are also eager to find out what park users would like to see at their new community hub and ask people to email suggestions to theteam@victoriaparkpavilion.org.

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