A lifeline has been thrown to the café catering for the over-50s in Bracknell, with a message attached – “use it or lose it”.

But campaigners have accused council bosses of washing their hands of the town centre facility.

Bracknell Forest Voluntary Action (BVFA) is in the final stages of organising a voluntary operation to run the Look In in Broadway.

The news was announced at a meeting of Bracknell Forest Council’s executive, days after protesters had flooded the town centre to fight the proposed closure.

'Hands off our club' say Look In marchers

The council has had to pull its funding for the café of £60,000 a year as part of a series of cuts, but campaigners fighting to keep it open say the prospect of it running on a voluntary basis is too uncertain.

A fierce campaign was launched after the plans were announced which included a 2,000 name petition, and a march through Bracknell town centre on Saturday.

Petition launched to save The Look In

Councillor Dale Birch, executive member for adult services, health and housing, said at the meeting: “There is some good news.

“In some desperate financial circumstances, we have been looking at alternative ways to provide the Look In.

“A new body is in the process of being set up and I understand there are already trustees and a director in place.

“The new facility will be called the ‘Look In Community Café’ and there are some exciting new ideas for it once it opens in April.

“The new facility will be very much ‘use it or lose’ and I urge people to get behind it.”

“We have been looking at alternatives including the possibility of using the ground floor of this building [Easthampstead House], or Bracknell Library.

“Because we actually do care about providing for our older people we have been in discussions with BFVA into providing another operator.”

However, outside the meeting, the campaigners were worried.

Closure of 'lifeline' cafe would be a disaster

Claire Heffill, of Bracknell Alzheimer’s Society, said: “The whole point of the campaign was to try to keep the Look In open under council control to ensure the funding was there.

“Having it run voluntarily is a lot more risky.

“No one has said where the money is coming from – £60,000 a year is a lot to provide for a voluntary group.

“Volunteers have the best will in the world, but they are not able to do as much as professional people.

“There are sure to be circumstances when the volunteers aren’t able to get there.

“My other concern is the new name of it, ‘Community Café’, that suggests to me it won’t just be over-50s.

“It’s all very uncertain – the council are washing their hands of something they should provide.”

Other users revealed it was not just people from Bracknell who use the café.

Claire said she had met people from Windsor, Slough and even one couple from Oxford who go there once a week.

Cllr Birch added afterwards the new cafe is likely to open on Tuesday, April 6.

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