Northleach cafe closes over lease row (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Blades cafe in the Old Prison, Northleach, has been forced to close after Cotswold District Council did not review their lease

12:00pm Thursday 6th October 2011 in News By Ian Craig

Nick and Felicity Blades outside Blades café in Northleach, which has been forced to close

A COUPLE have spoken of their disappointment at being forced to close their Northleach café after Cotswold District Council (CDC) did not renew their lease.

Nick and Felicity Blades ran Blades Bistro from the Old Prison in Northleach for five years, but last month were forced to close down after the lease came to an end.

Mr Blades said CDC had told them the lease would only be renewed if they agreed to take on responsibility for the repair and maintenance of the building.

“It’s such an old building there’s no way we could afford to do that,” he said.

“CDC have made it clear they want to find a buyer for the building so they don’t want to continue to lease it – their way of doing that was to make the lease absolutely untenable.

“We’ve put so much effort into it over the past five years – it’s really disappointing.

The couple also run a café in Cirencester and a bakery in Northleach.

Mr Blades added he had received several messages of support from the Northleach community.

“In the 5 years the cafés been there it’s become a big part of the Northleach community,” he said.

“It was very popular with women, especially mums with children.

“A lot of people have been very sad to see it go.”

A spokesman from CDC said the council had decided to sell the building to save costs.

“Having looked at the options available, there was cross party support to dispose of the freehold of the property on the open market unless a full repairing and insuring lease at a rent approaching the current rent could be secured,” he said.

“The Council was not prepared to continue subsidising the property using taxpayers' funds.”