It comes as another café reopens in Town Park after being closed for almost three years, reports James Cracknell and Richard Cubitt

Baran Korkmaz is the operator of the new Pymmes Park Café

A brand new café has opened at Pymmes Park in Edmonton – repurposing what used to be a toilet block.

Pymmes Park Café is described by leaseholder Baran Korkmaz as “open and inclusive” and offers hot and cold drinks, pastries, sandwiches, burgers, salads, jacket potatoes and ice creams.

There are also new toilets included within the refurbished block which are now maintained by the operator.

The business is the latest to launch as part of efforts by Enfield Council to open cafés at every major borough park, and comes as the final one of the four park cafes closed suddenly in September 2023 also reopens.

The council had been forced to take enforcement action against caterer Ozgur Celebi, whose companies owed almost £70,000 in unpaid rent at the time the cafes in Oakwood Park, Trent Park, Whitewebbs Park and Town Park were closed.

While the first three of these cafes reopened within a year under new management, it has taken far longer to reopen the venue at Town Park. Earlier this month, soft play operator Little Dinosaurs finally completed its refurbishment of the pavilion and is now open for business.

At the same time as seeking new operators for those four park cafes, the council issued invitations to tender to run brand new cafés at Jubilee Park and Pymmes Park in Edmonton, plus Enfield Playing Fields.

Pymmes Park Café is the first of these new businesses to open.

Pymmes Park Cafe is on the eastern side of the park, near Victoria Road — Pymmes Park Café is on the eastern side of the park, near the Victoria Road entrance

This afternoon (Friday 1st) the Dispatch visited the café for lunch and met Baran, who won the tender to run it. He explained that he decided to quit a career working with computers and artificial intelligence to instead run his own business.

“I decided the computer work was a drain on my lifestyle and running a café was more sociable and more meaningful,” he explained.

“There was this sense of achievement in repurposing an old building, and it is a fun business to run.”

Although Baran lives in Chingford, he said he had a family connection to the park and had visited many times during his childhood.

“We really love the park,” he said. “They call it the ‘lungs of Edmonton’ and it really is an important park.”

Having not previously had a background in running a café, Baran said he had leant on the experience of his uncle who has been working in the catering industry for many years.

He also said that he had commissioned local artists to design the cafe’s logo and colour scheme.

Although the council has said that the refurbishment of the former toilet block at Pymmes Park and conversion into a café was privately funded by Baran’s company Pymmes Ltd, council leader Ergin Erbil filmed a video this week boasting that his Labour administration was “investing more to make our parks safer, greener, and better for everyone”.

Baran said he was grateful to the council for selecting him as the operator and for recent safety improvements to the park, such as additional CCTV and security patrols.

“It helps us to enjoy the park,” he said. “We don’t have antisocial behaviour.”

Pymmes Park Café is now open from 9am-7pm every day.

The newly-opened Little Dinosaurs café and soft play venue in Town Park (credit Richard Cubitt)

Meanwhile, at Town Park, Little Dinosaurs – which also operates a café and soft play centre in Muswell Hill – is now serving a full range of classic café food and has both an indoor play area and an outdoor bouncy castle.

Little Dionsaurs is open from 9am to 6pm each day, with the soft play costing £7 per child for two hours.

For more information about Pymmes Park Café:
Visit facebook.com/p/Pymmes-Park-Cafe

For more information about Little Dinosaurs Café and Play Centre:
Visit little-dinosaurs-enfield.appointedd.com

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