Caerphilly town’s old library, in Morgan Jones Park, is set to be turned into a community coffee shop.
The building closed when the town’s new £5.2 million library opened its doors to the public last year.
Caerphilly County Borough Council put the building up for sale and two local residents have now won the bid to reopen it as part of a social enterprise.
Angela and Edward Crabtree, who live in the town, will run the business and have promised to plough at least 70% of the profits back into the project. They have also promised to pay all staff the Living Wage.
The building will be split into two distinct areas, one side being a traditional coffee shop and the other a family-friendly area providing free soft play, as well as a “bring and borrow” book scheme, free Wi-Fi and notice boards for local community information.
Mother-of-two Mrs Crabtree said: “I, along with thousands of others from Caerphilly, enjoyed using the facilities of the library at Morgan Jones Park.
“As such, I want to build on the ethos of the old library by not only retaining its name, but by providing a community facility which everybody can enjoy. “Initially any profits will go towards the development of the building, further modernising it and converting the storage garage space into a hireable function room.
“Once the building has met our expectations we will continue reinvestment through organising events within the shop and any additional profits will be donated to community projects within the Caerphilly area”.
Councillor James Pritchard, who represents the Morgan Jones ward, initiated a community consultation on the building’s future in September 2013.
He said: “The consultation I launched in 2013 was designed to stave off any threat of the old library building being left unoccupied, or worse still, demolished.
“The public were clear during the consultation that they wanted the library building to be retained for community use.
“I’m very happy public opinion has been listened to and having met with Angela and Edward a number of times, I’m in no doubt their business case fits with public opinion. The old library is now in safe hands.”
• For more information about the project visit www.theoldlibrarycaerphilly.co.uk.
This is Great news.
Well done councillor James Pritchard , I remember James calling on the residents asking their views on the buildings future use and I did say I think a Cafe there would be great,
I am sure this will be a great success.
Good luck to Angela and Edward, I will be popping in for a coffee.
This is Great news.
Well done councillor James Pritchard , I remember James calling on the residents asking their views on the buildings future use and I did say I think a Cafe there would be great,
I am sure this will be a great success.
Good luck to Angela and Edward, I will be popping in for a coffee.