£5 million restaurant plan for Doncaster park will create 100 jobs

An exciting £5 million overhaul for a popular Doncaster park is set to create more than 100 jobs with a brand new restaurant and cafe/bar complex.

Proposals have been drawn up for the huge two-storey venue in Sandall Park which would replace the existing cafe and act as a gateway building to Doncaster from the north east side of town.

The stylish building will include terracing, sun decks and dramatic views over the park’s lake and developers hope it will attract thousands of extra visitors to the Wheatley park each year.

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Joy Silcock, who has run the café for more than 20 years, is behind the scheme which could be in business by 2017 - with plans due to be put before Doncaster Council next year.

“We have put together a team that want to create something amazing and invest in something which will really alter this side of town,” she said.

“The plans are very exciting and will create more than a hundred jobs as well as a stunning new restaurant that will offer the kind of venue not seen in this area before.”

The project is being developed in conjunction with a local property magnate who has chosen to remain anonymous at this stage.

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The restaurant and cafe, which will be set within a building of approximately 14,000 sq ft and erected on the site of the existing 1950s built cafe and adjoining car park, will be open throughout the year.

The scheme will include:

* A stylish new café/restaurant/bar/coffee shop quarter

* A newly integrated toilet block for park users

* A new car park to for restaurant users and park visitors

* The refurbishment of the existing toilet block into a storage facility

A second phase could see the creation of a sports centre on the opposite side of the park on Barnby Dun Road, providing community facilities, changing rooms and indoor sporting arenas.

“This is a major redevelopment project,” added the scheme’s backer. “We will be releasing more details in due course.”

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Don Crabtree of the Friends of Sandall Park, the volunteer group which has helped transform the park and revive its fortunes in recent years, has welcomed the scheme which he says the group have been in discussion over for a number of months.

He said: “Our aim was always to make the park into something that people would want to invest in and all that hard work has paid off with this announcement.

“We have been driving for this for the last nine months and it is exciting that we can finally tell people what is happening. It is a wonderful example of public, private and voluntary sectors working in harmony.”

Planning permission is now being sought and if granted, work will start next year.