A planning application has gone in to turn an old stone barn near Richmond Bike Park into a not-for-profit community café, and volunteers are wanted to help.

The café is a joint project between Richmond Bike Park, the Rufus Woods community woodland and Just the Job Environmental Enterprise, the Richmond charity that helps manage the wood. Announcing it in the Richmond Bike Park Facebook group, bike park project lead Louise Raine asked for volunteers to join a Community Café Development Committee.

What is proposed

The barn stands next to the Whashton Road car park at the eastern end of the former Richmond Racecourse, on the way to Rufus Woods and the bike park. The application to North Yorkshire Council asks for permission to convert, repair and refurbish it as a not-for-profit community café with a toilet. It includes a replacement roof, new doors and windows, an outdoor seating area, renewable energy generation and rainwater harvesting.

The project team describes a café serving refreshments and light bites, a meeting place for walkers, cyclists, families and dog walkers, an accessible toilet and support facilities for the bike park. Any profit would go back into community projects. For riders, that would mean a café and a toilet on the way to the trails, at a park that opened in October 2026.

Where it stands

Nothing has been approved yet. You can follow the application and comment on it through the council's planning register.

The idea was first put to the public in September, when Richmondshire Today reported a survey asking what people wanted from the site.

How to help

The development committee will help shape the next stages of the project. The team is looking for people with experience in business, hospitality, fundraising, construction or marketing, and for anyone with ideas and enthusiasm. To get involved, message Louise Raine through the Richmond Bike Park Facebook group.

Images: the barn as it is now and an impression of the proposed café, courtesy of Richmond Bike Park.