THE city council has hit back at criticism after a Newport company announced they were leaving the popular tea rooms and wedding venue in Belle Vue park, and have revealed they had to close the site down in recent weeks after it failed a safety inspection.

After Parc Pantry yesterday announced they were leaving the Belle Vue site after three years, Newport City Council found themselves fending off enraged criticism from members of the public.

But the council today issued a statement on their website, rejecting the criticism and expanding on some of the details behind the fall out with Park Pantry.

Speaking of the council's “shock and disappointment”, the statement said the café was closed on short notice in recent weeks on health and safety grounds.

 

“The decision was taken following the annual inspection of the business where it was identified that working practices needed to be changed to meet electrical safety standards,” read the statement.

A council spokesperson added: “The business was advised what changes needed to be carried out by them as licence holders but they were reluctant to comply.

“The council then installed extra electrical sockets to stop the practice of overloading extension leads to run equipment and the café was then allowed to reopen.”

The council statement also said the recent addition of parking charges had no impact on the company's decision to leave.

READ MORE: Popular Parc Pantry in Belle Vue announce they are leaving after a falling out with the council

“Parc Pantry were consulted on the proposal and, following this process, were offered two permits for parking in the car park,” the statement read.

“In addition, they were offered provision for their staff in the former nursery site which is a short walk across from the park.

“The café had complained to the council on a number of occasions about the lack of parking for customers, due in the main to commuter use and this was one of the reasons for introducing the parking charges,” said the council spokesperson.

The statement goes on to say that Parc Pantry made no mention of the new charges when they handed in their notice to quit the site.

It continued: “In fact, since Parc Pantry announced their intention to terminate their licence, the council has been inundated with enquiries about taking up the concession, which serves to confirm the council’s view that there are no trading or parking issues.

A spokesman for Parc Pantry expressed their disappointment at the council’s statement, and pointed out their original public statement made no criticism of the local authority.

They said: “We can confirm that necessary electrical works were carried out to the site and we were fully compliant with their request to upgrade their building in contrast to the statement issued.

“Despite this we are still open to discussions with the administration regarding our concerns and would obviously prefer to follow this course of action.”