MINEHEAD visitors and residents will once again be able to enjoy a cuppa or an ice cream and relax in a deckchair in Blenheim Gardens this summer, the chief executive of the new district council pledged this week.

Only hours after the Free Press revealed last Friday that the town council was urging action to re-open the now-derelict Blenheim Gardens Café, James Hassett, chief executive of Somerset West and Taunton Council, which owns the gardens, began talks to bring in mobile catering services in time for the summer season.

The popular venue was shut by the former West Somerset Council six months ago, along with the deckchair and putting course concessions.

Since then, Minehead Town Council has been pressing the district council to either reopen the café or provide alternative arrangements, but without success.

A council spokesman said last week that, with a new district council and a new chief executive, “we will be doubling our efforts to find an acceptable resolution to this important issue for the town”.

As a result, Mr Hassett told the town’s annual meeting on Tuesday that, although he only learned of the problem last Friday, he had already rolled out plans for a temporary solution until something permanent could be put in place.

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