Leicester: Museum cafe plan wins support of city councillors

A new cafe at Leicester’s flagship museum has won support from city councillors, despite concerns over the authority’s finances.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby signed off £850k of funding for the revamp at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery at the end of May.

Opposition councillors “called in” the decision so it could be scrutinised further, but a committee decided to press ahead with the plans.

The coffee shop will be at the front of the museum, if a planning application recently submitted to Leicester City Council is approved.

The museum, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, previously had a cafe at the back of the building, but it closed several years ago.

The city council, which runs the New Walk venue, said it was also looking to create new art gallery displays, a shop, and reception area.

“Essential maintenance work” will also be carried out during the £3.9m project, including roof repairs.

Sir Peter said the new cafe would be accessible to passers-by, as well as museum and art gallery visitors.

Opposition councillors raised concerns over the scheme’s price tag and “called in” the decision so it could be scrutinised.

They said despite the council being in a “truly diabolical financial state”, the Labour leadership appeared “determined to waste millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash on ill-conceived vanity projects.”

Members of the council’s culture scrutiny commission, which has a Labour majority, met on 8 July to discuss the project and ultimately decided to press ahead with it.

A council spokesperson said: “The proposal will enable us to create a self-contained cafe [which can remain] open to the public when the museum is closed.

“There is a demand for this from cafe operators. The bulk of the fit-out would be paid for by the chosen operator, and the council would receive income from them.”

It is hoped money towards the plans can be secured from the National Heritage Lottery Fund.