Council chiefs are considering opening up for tenders to operate the recently refurbished kiosk in Pudsey Park.
The kiosk had been closed since 2018 but was reopened last August and operated by the council after being a favourite with Pudsey families since the late 1920s. It had been used for storage in recent years by volunteers from the Pudsey in Bloom group.
Councillor Simon Seary (Cons, Pudsey) posted on social media to say the council was considering opening up for tenders to operate the kiosk in 2025.
He said: “This isn’t really a surprise as we all knew the council would struggle to make the kiosk work, due to double manning costs, operating it as a satellite of the Arium, only accepting card payments and limited advertising of open hours etc.
“Hopefully a new operator will be able to make it work much better and deliver a fantastic community attraction.”
Leeds City Council said: “The concessions tender invites bids from private operators to use specified sites in our parks and green spaces to operate their ice cream / refreshment vans.
“This is an annual tender exercise which is due to be published shortly and the intention is to include Pudsey Park kiosk as one of the sites for vendors to bid on.
“Tenders are assessed on both quality and price and there is no obligation to accept any bid that may be received.
“Bidders would need to achieve a quality threshold and if it was financially advantageous for the council to grant a licence for a private provider to operate the kiosk, our service would manage the terms of the licence in the same way that we manage the ice cream and refreshment concessions that are situated across our parks and green spaces.”
The park, which is the second most visited in Leeds, was recently awarded with a Green Flag Award alongside six other parks in Leeds, recognising it as one of the best in the UK.
- More of WLD‘s coverage of Pudsey Park can be found here.
- All our Pudsey coverage can be found here.
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