Save our Rumbles

CAN YOU SPARE A QUID FOR RUMBLES AND STOP THE UNJUST EVICTION

Why we need your help

Ashfield District Council are disappointed that they are not making profit from our Charity.  

Rumbles Cafe is on a special tenancy lease which means we are not classed as a commercial business. The cafe is exempt from business rates as the property is used wholly for the benefit of disabled people. But yet the Council decided to take us to court to get us to pay rates, it was thrown out.  

For a year we tried contacting the council to extend the lease but had no response, when they finally agreed to meet to talk about the contract, the officer insulted our beneficiaries, to which we put in a complaint (that still has not been answered). We were then served an eviction notice with no explanation, which turned out to be not valid.  

We have now been given a proposed new lease with a “take it or leave it” attitude. It states a 14,000 % rent increase to which we have agreed, but the council also wants us to take on the financial liability of the public toilets attached to the café building. We do not believe it is for a charity whose primary responsibility is to the disabled, to financially pay for public toilets. The council refuses to meet our Trustees to properly negotiate the lease and we have been forced to take this issue public to get the council to do the Right Thing.

What makes us special

Rumbles catering project charity registration 1098404

For 17 years Rumbles Cafe on Sutton Lawn, in Nottinghamshire has provided training, education, mentoring and work experience for people  with learning difficulties and/or are social disadvantaged at no cost to the taxpayer. 

It is a cafe for all the community and during this winter we provided a warm room with low cost hot food for anyone who was enduring the energy crisis and we provided take home meals during Covid. The cafe provides a safe space for people from all walks of life to connect, enjoy delicious food, and foster a sense of belonging.

What we need the money for.

Since the beginning Ashfield District Council has been standoffish and uncooperative. The charity has had to resort to hiring a solicitor just to get the council to communicate and to force the council to follow the appropriate procedures. So far this has cost us £4000, money that should be used for our beneficiaries. Rumbles Cafe have legal rights not be evicted but it is clear that the council is forcing us into a position where the choice is to use our financial reserves to stay or give up.

We need your help however small so we can continue the legal fight and tell the Council that it is totally unacceptable to persecute a long-standing charity.