Tag: Edinburgh Furniture Initiative

To our lovely customers: We are announcing the forthcoming closure of Four Square Park Café in Saughton Park.

Our final day of operation will be 11th November, closing at 12pm.

Please hear from our CEO, Jane: “Closing Four Square Park Café is a decision we have not wanted to make. We have worked for three years to make the cafe a success, and we are incredibly proud of what it has achieved.

“The café has been about community and providing a beautiful space for people to come together, celebrated some of life’s most important occasions and it has given more than 20 young people the opportunity to take their first steps into employment.

“Sadly, despite everything the café has contributed socially, we have not been able to make the business financially viable. Despite support from the City of Edinburgh Council, Friends of Saughton Park and the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, we have carried losses for three years, and even a glorious summer has not brought the level of sales needed to sustain the café.

“As a charity, we have a responsibility to manage our resources carefully, and we cannot continue to absorb these losses indefinitely.

“We are immensely grateful to everyone who has supported the café, worked in it, volunteered in it, celebrated in it and made it part of their lives. We will always be proud of its social impact.

“We hope that someone with a fresh perspective and an innovative approach to running a park café will see the potential in this wonderful space and find a way to make it work for the local community.”

The café closes at 12pm tomorrow – 11th November.

Four Square’s other social enterprise, Edinburgh Furniture Initiative (EFI) on Gorgie Road, is unaffected by these changes and continues to operate as normal, as does the rest of the charity. Please come by and see us at EFI in the future!