Duthie Park café to re-open in Spring

21 December 2016

The café in Duthie Park is to re-open in the Spring after extensive refurbishments and an extension into the Winter Gardens, Aberdeen City Council can reveal today.

The facility is to have a bigger café area with large windows overlooking the park, a verandah with covered area, a large new kitchen and serving area, new toilet facilities, and a spacious new gelato parlour which opens out into Fern House beside the pond in the Winter Gardens.

Aberdeen City Council Communities, Housing and Infrastructure vice convener Councillor Jean Morrison said: “The refurbishments to the café will be a fantastic addition to Duthie Park which is already one of the most popular attractions in the city, with 44 acres of green space beside the River Dee and within walking and cycling reach of the city centre.

“The 134-year-old park had a £5million refurbishment re-opening in 2013, with funding provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Aberdeen City Council, which considerably improved its facilities.

“Duthie has the biggest range of facilities of all the city’s parks including water features, playparks, café, Japanese Garden, and Winter Gardens and of course year-round facilities with the Winter Gardens and now the refurbished and extended café.

“It is already an exciting place to go with lots to do for all the family and I’m sure the refurbishments to the café will make the park even more of an attraction.”

The improved facility will be called The Park Café, and will have a similar interior to the café at Hazlehead Park, with light blue New England-style tongue-in-groove wall cladding and a clean and fresh look.

A spokesman for Coffee Societea Ltd, which runs the Hazlehead Park café and will run the new facility, said: “We’re really excited about the new building and features we’re building in Duthie Park and the Winter Gardens.

“It will be fantastic to be open before the summer months and we’re looking forward to bringing the same winning formula as we have at Hazlehead to Duthie Park.

“We look forward to getting the refurbishments finished and the café open as soon as possible”

Planning permission for the refurbishments to Duthie Park café was granted by the City Council in June 2016.