A cafe has opened in The Carrs park occupying the kiosk adjacent to the new public toilets in the car park.
Cafe Azul is open daily from 8am to 6pm serving coffee, teas, hot chocolate, soft drinks, juices and smoothies, paninis, soup, toasties, pasties and home made cakes.
The kiosk is run by Paul and Caroline Checkett who have previous experience of operating a coffee shop in Stockport and have also been operating their quirky mobile Piaggio Ape coffee cart in and around Cheshire for the past three years, including being the hot drinks supplier at Wilmslow's Artisan Market.
Paul Checkett said "I saw it as a great opportunity, fab location for the business and us personally. We currently live in Bramhall and are planning a move back to Wilmslow."
He added "We gained much experience and met some amazing food and beverage suppliers during our time with our coffee shop which will help us move forwards with our kiosk Cafe Azul."
Wilmslow Town Council decided to include a kiosk as part of the project for a number of reasons including providing an additional service for the many people that use the park.
Chairman of Wilmslow Town Council, Martin Watkins said "The Town Council was aware of the closure of many other public toilet blocks in the Borough due to the ongoing costs of cleaning and maintenance and decided that the toilet block at the Carrs should be self-financing once built, the 20p charge for the toilet usage covers the utility costs / rates and the rental from the kiosk covers the cleaning and maintenance costs.
"The Town Council wanted to ensure that the toilet block was secure and safe and that in addition to the cctv coverage to all external elevations, a kiosk would ensure that the building was occupied during the majority of it's opening hours."
The Town Council received a number of expressions of interest and wanted to ensure that the tenant had the necessary experience to develop the business from scratch and also that the proposed product offer would match the expectations of customers in The Carrs.
The kiosk is now open and will evolve over the next few weeks as signage and a permanent internal fit out are added.
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They are being funded out of some of the money 'saved' when the toilet block was delayed and the contractor incurred penalties.
Cllr Angela McPake