The Royal Parks unveils proposals for Roehampton Cafe

This spring, local communities and park visitors will get the chance to find out about the plans for a new café and enhanced landscape at Roehampton Gate in Richmond Park.

The Royal Parks charity, which manages Richmond Park, is proposing a project to replace the popular café, as well as improve the landscape it sits in to help increase biodiversity in that part of the park. The charity is holding three public engagement days and is encouraging local residents and park visitors to come along, have a look at the plans, ask questions and give feedback. The dates for the engagement days are:

•    1-4pm, Thursday 4 April, Roehampton Café
•    10am-1pm, Saturday 6 April, Roehampton Café
•    11am-2pm, Friday 12 April, Pen Ponds

The current facilities at Roehampton Gate are temporary structures put in place almost 20 years ago after a fire destroyed the original buildings. These facilities do not offer the capacity or modern amenities required to serve park visitors.

The space will be transformed into an environmentally excellent café which is in keeping with the landscape it sits in and is able to cope with increased visitor numbers. It will be a more family-friendly part of the park, offering a wide range of fresh produce to meet visitor demand and expectation. The park landscape around the café will be improved and enhanced, with a view to increasing biodiversity.

A new car park entrance and cycling infrastructure will also be created.

The ‘Roehampton Restored’ project will regenerate this part of the park by replacing the current café with a new BREEAM “Excellent” certified café. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is a long-standing method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability performance of buildings.

Paul Richards, Richmond Park Manager, The Royal Parks, said:

“We’re really excited about our proposals for the upcoming project at Roehampton Gate, which we know people have been looking forward to for a while. We’re looking forward to welcoming as many people as possible to the park to find out more about the proposals.

“The engagement days will be a great opportunity for local communities and park visitors to speak directly with members of the project team, including our Richmond Park team and The Royal Parks landscape team.”