STROUD District Council has moved to clarify its position on the Subscription Rooms and Mr Twitches Café, reaffirming its current consultation period and stressing no changes will be made to the café opening hours before June this year.

A briefing to the council’s community services and licencing committee on Wednesday said that no decision had been made to close the café and bar on April 1, as had been previously reported by a member of café staff.

The report said the “unauthorised” statement from the venue’s marketing consultant Sarah Phaedre Watson had caused “confusion and alarm” during the staff consultation period, and that the council had taken “appropriate action” when she was later fired.

However, this came after staff at the Sub Rooms café were accidently told by a council officer last week that the facility would be closing tomorrow, April 1, prompting the whistle-blower to come forward.

Stroud District Council (SDC), which runs the venue, also repeated its “concerns” about the financial viability of the café, saying that the budgets showed no sign of breaking even any time soon and that the authority was under “enormous financial pressure".

“We have looked at the income and expenditure and there was around a £30k deficit for 2015/16 and no sign of a significant improvement in 2016/17,” the report said.

“We are looking at options to reduce the deficit and one of these options could be to reduce the customer opening hours during the day but still have the option to provide catering for events on request.”

It went to say its officers had carried out a “potential redundancy consultation” with two members of staff who could possibly lose their jobs.

It added that a part of the process, staff had been given the chance to put forward any ideas that could help reduce the deficit.

One plan suggests reducing opening hours but offering to provide an outside catering service for the Sub Rooms.

The council said it was considering this proposal and that no changes will be made to the café opening hours before June 2017.

Stroud News and Journal:

Moving on, it said the long term future of the Subscription Rooms has not been decided and that a Task and Finish Group will make recommendations on the future of the Sub Rooms at the end of this year.

Currently there is a six week community consultation taking place where all and any interested parties are being asked to ‘express an interest’ in running the Sub Rooms. This consultation finishes on April 12.

SDC said it has already received six expressions of interest from community groups and interested parties.

The next stage will be inviting formal bids which will need to be submitted by end of August.

The report continued: “SDC is under enormous financial pressure like many other Councils, in 2019/20 we will be due to pay back to Government £549,000 and we will no longer have any direct Government funding for the services we provide. It has been agreed by full council to set a balanced budget.

“We are committed to protect front line services and unlike many other councils we have continued to support the community and voluntary sector through grants.

“The council is committed to having a vibrant district and we trust that the Subscription Rooms will continue to play its part in supporting that.”

Due to tightening budgets, the council is carrying out a review of some of its assets in the Five Valleys, including the Sub Rooms, which costs £415,000 to run every year.

Three options have been proposed; have SDC retain ownership, transfer the freehold to another organisation such as Stroud Town Council, a Trust or public sector body, or put the building on the open market.

The Support Our Subs group is urging residents to sign its petition to ensure the venue continues in public ownership. You can sign the petition at bit.ly/2o1wrlR

Campaigners, performers, artists, business owners and residents will gather outside the venue between 10.30am and noon on Saturday April 1 in a show of support.

  • Read the SNJ’s editorial on the Sub Rooms debate here.

Photo above by Dbeorah Roberts