Reproviding the Willesden Library Cafe

There is now a petition to Brent Council to reprovide the Willesden Library Cafe by reducing the rents.  I am not sure that would actually be effective.  This is not least because the cafe had a period without rent at the beginning of the tenancy, and I don't think it is necessarily paying rent now.

Those of us who have followed the attempt to let the space over the years can attest the economics are tricky, but there is no doubt that this sort of colocation is effective in helping the Library and Willesden High Road.  My own suggestion is reconfiguring the building with the cafe at the front to make any cafe a more obvious feature of the site.

By the way, although the petitioners (whoever they might be) think that:

"After countless years of neglect, Willesden Green has recently started to show signs of growth and development; this is in large part due to the work of community minded individuals within the community coming together."

Those of us who recall building the library can remember when a number of people who claimed to speak for "the community" were hotly opposed to the plans which made the current cafe space possible.  Here are some of them protesting against the library back in 2013:

Still, it is nice to see that the petitioners consider the Library to be a "highly valued and much-loved facility."