The Wood Bar kiosk at Victoria Park to close

Tuesday, 28 February 2023 00:00

The popular The Wood Bar Kiosk is to close after Salisbury City Council didn't accept their application to renew their lease.

The City Council put the venue out to application for businesses interested in running the kiosk in the park last year and the current tenants, The Wood Bar, reapplied to continue their tenancy.

However, today (28th Feb) they have discovered that their application has been unsuccessful.

Posting on their social media that revealed the news and posted a picture of the communication from the council.

Tom Britten from The Wood Bar told Salisbury Radio, "We are absolutely devastated, two years ago when then park was in need of a friendly face and a decent coffee we set up in the middle of Covid and took a huge risk.

"From then we have gone from strength to strength and have created the beating heart of one of the city’s much loved parks. This year we were told that we must now apply for a 3 year lease on the premises.

"This came just after we’d been broken into and £2k had been stolen from the business. We wrote to the council and explained the current financial situation we were in and asked if they’d consider a shorter agreement while we get our feet back on the ground.

"Without reply they then advertised our site using our pictures to the general public which caused our customers to believe we were closing down.

"Salisbury Council replied and said “we are not looking for a shorter term agreement and we wish you well in your future” asking us to let them know when we are moving out."

Salisbury City Council have been contacted for comment.

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