A new community café will open its doors in Barrow Town Hall this week.
Other Forum community services, including the banking hub, conferencing facilities, shows and events, have also moved to the town hall.
The Town Hall Coffee Shop will welcome customers from 11am tomorrow, Wednesday May 14, who will be able to sample a special opening day buck’s fizz and scones.
The coffee shop will be officially opened by octogenarian Joyce, one of the Forum Café’s most loyal and long-standing regular customers, who is also marking her birthday this week.
Westmorland and Furness Council announced in January that facilities, including the popular community café and public toilets, would move to the town hall as part of plans to revitalise and open up more of the town hall building to the community while the Forum is out of action.
Councillor Virginia Taylor, Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet member for sustainable communities and localities, said: “We know how important the café is to Barrow and it was a high priority for all of us to keep it open. Our teams have worked incredibly hard over the last few months to re-locate the café to the town hall.
“Our Forum people have also done fantastically well to minimise the impact on planned events at the Forum.
“Working with promoters, they have been able successfully to relocate or reschedule a number of shows, moving them to the town hall or other venues and have been keeping ticket holders informed about venue changes.
“We had our first Forum show in the town hall on Friday evening and it was a great success, with a sold-out audience really enjoying the setting in the beautiful banqueting hall.
“The current closure of the Forum building is really regrettable, but we have always said that we would find ways that the Forum’s role – and the valuable contribution its many activities and facilities provide for the community – would continue in Barrow.
“Moving these facilities across the road also means we are now able to open up and showcase more of the historic town hall to our communities and we hope people will really enjoy being able to visit this wonderful building.’’
The new town hall coffee shop, public toilets, banking hub and Forum box office and information desk are all on the ground floor of the town hall, accessible via the main town hall entrance off the Duke Street courtyard, directly opposite the Forum. Staff will be on hand to greet and guide customers and new signage has been put in place to help people find their way around.
Anyone wanting to speak to the council’s housing team should continue to access via the Cornwallis Street entrance and go to the Housing Services reception desk.
