Yatton station café plan gets boost

A project to turn a redundant waiting room at Yatton Railway Station into a community café has taken a major step forward.

The Strawberry Line Café Project Community Interest Company (CIC) has been in negotiations with Network Rail to take over the former waiting room and store at the station and turn it into a café.

This week project leaders revealed they have agreed the heads of terms for a lease for the building, which was designed by Isambard Brunel and is Grade-II listed, with Network Rail and hope to finalise the agreement within the next few weeks.

The agreement will mean the rail giant will rent out the buildings to the CIC, which will then transform them into a facility for the community.

Once the agreement is in place, fundraising can start to raise the £180,000 needed to restore the historic buildings.

Plans for the café include completely revamping the waiting room to provide a seating area and installing a new kitchen and toilets.

The Brandon Trust will support the initiative by offering training to adults with special needs who will eventually run the café.

It is hoped the café will be open by August 2010.