New Kidwells Park cafe tenant hopes reopening will 'bring community together'

A derelict café in Kidwells Park is set for a fresh lease of life after its new tenant picked up the keys on Christmas Eve.  

Jason Gratton, 45, hopes to have the doors open to a revamped Kidwells Park Pavillion by March – just three months away.

Jason told the Advertiser being given the keys marked the realisation of a long held ambition to run the café and that he was ‘optimistic’ about its future.

“It’s been a long time, I put [a bid] in for this seven years ago,” he said.

Jason has run the pavilion in Oaken Grove Park for the past seven years, since first missing out on the Kidwells site – which has fallen into further disrepair.

The new Kidwells Park café is expected to provide a similar offering to Jason’s Oaken Grove site including hot drinks, ice creams and hot food – as well as offering free phone charging and wifi.

“It’s what the community needs – especially the kids,” Jason said. “There’s nothing for kids anymore in Maidenhead.  

“Our plan was to bring the community together again and do something for the skatepark and the kids that go down there.”

Jason said he also had plans to open a 'retro games arcade' at the site in the future. 

He has taken over the pavilion on a 15-year lease – with the first year’s rent waived because of the cost of refurbishing the derelict site. The site has suffered with damp and graffiti in the years it has been vacant. 

“From when I first viewed it seven years ago till now, a lot has changed on the inside and the outside," Jason said. 

The inside of Kidwells Park Pavillion in November 2023, when the council offered bids for the site. 

Councillor Jack Douglas, cabinet member for communities and leisure (Lib Dem, St Mary’s), was ‘delighted’ that the café – an ‘advert for decay’ – was reopening.

“We’re absolutely delighted, it’s been years and years in the works,” he said.  

In April, MP Joshua Reynolds, the then cabinet member for communities and leisure, announced the council was considering prospective tenants.

He added a new operator for the cafe would be announced by June.

But the winning bidder – from five including Jason’s – dropped out, leaving the café’s future hanging in the balance.

Cllr Douglas said: “The original bidder pulled out and I just approached Jason direct because I knew his credibility."

He said: “Jason has a track record of doing amazing work at Oaken Grove.”

The Oaken Grove Tuk Shop run by Jason.

The café is not directly owned by the council. It is owned by the Kidwells Park charity and held in trust by the council.

This complex ownership, Cllr Douglas said, had meant lawyers became involved to iron out the details – and also added to delays.

As time dragged on since the reopening was first mooted, residents on social media have continued to ask questions.

“Some people on Facebook have been putting in a lot of time and effort calling for it to be opened and that’s good – that keeps the pressure on,” Cllr Douglas said.  

“We’ve actually spent a huge amount of time trying to get it open, it's been more effort than we thought.”

Cllr Douglas added: “[The café] has become a sort of advert for decay as it is, and with Jason in there now it will instead be an advert for regeneration.”