A WOMAN running a cafe at one of Keighley's most popular attractions has been given notice by its owner Bradford Council.

Cheryl Holdsworth, who has managed the cafe in the grounds of Cliffe Castle Museum for five years, now fears she could end up losing her home as well as her business.

Miss Holdsworth, a single mum with a three-year-old daughter, of Scholes, Wyke, said: "It's just me and my little girl, and I never expected I'd have to start all over again at this stage of my life.

"I feel very low and stressed. I've put everything I have into this business, and it's not my fault it's going under."

She said the Council gave her notice to quit the premises despite her struggle to keep the cafe going during the one and half years Cliffe Castle was closed for a major refurbishment.

It is now carrying out a procurement process to develop a new cafe.

Miss Holdsworth, a founding member of the Cliffe Castle Park Conservation Group, said she had played a part in helping secure a £3.5 million lottery grant for Cliffe Castle's grounds, and she said was told verbally that she could run a new cafe there once it is developed.

"The Council did ask me to invest money into the new cafe," she said. "I would have liked to, but I said how could I do that when I'd been without an income for nearly two years due to Cliffe Castle being closed?

"The Council parks and landscapes people have been saying the closure didn't have much of an effect on footfall, but I know that isn't true. It was horrendous, it was like a ghost town here.

"They told me that I wasn't keeping the cafe open, but because I didn't have the cash flow coming in I wasn't able to open consistently during that time. It was an impossible situation."

Ms Holdsworth said because she was hardly making any money during this period, the Council agreed to suspend her rent payments.

"They're now using that against me and saying that because I didn't have to pay rent I can't have compensation," she said.

"I've asked for a stay of execution so I can find somewhere to put all my furnishings, but I've been warned that's not going to happen."

Phil Barker, Bradford Council’s assistant director for Sport and Leisure, said: “The Council has been working with many partners to develop the scheme and funding bids for the new Cliffe Castle Park and café.

“Once it is completed, the correct procurement procedures for its future operation will be followed.”