Popular Armadale cafe Cubbyhouse Canteen forced to close

A popular Armadale kid-friendly cafe renowned for its children’s parties has been forced to close by Stonnington Council, just two weeks before Christmas.

Narelle Thompson, of Cubbyhouse Canteen, is devastated they are being forced to close.

Armadale institution Cubbyhouse Canteen will be forced to shut its doors within days, and just two weeks out from Christmas.

The beloved kid-friendly cafe’s closure is believed due to Stonnington Council awarding the site tender to a national leisure company.

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The Union St site had previously been leased to the Victorian Tennis Academy, who sublet to the cafe.

The Leader understands the new tender has been awarded to leisure facility management company BlueFit.

The heartbroken co-owners of Cubbyhouse Canteen said they were distraught they were being forced to wind up the family business they’d lovingly built from the ground up.

Narelle Thompson said she and her sister, Bec, had turned the cafe into a must-visit destination for families with small children over the past eight years.

But the Victorian Tennis Academy was informed just days ago their tender would not be renewed.

Ms Thompson said both the cafe and the tennis academy, who she believed had operated from the site for the past 18 years, would be turfed out by Christmas.

She said the business’ future was now under a cloud.

Cubbyhouse Canteen is a popular haunt for parents with small kids.

“We’ve built it into the community hub that it is today … if you’ve got kids you’d know who we were, we’re like a local institution,” she said.

“We’re all basically small family run businesses and we’ve been outed by a large multinational (leisure company).

“We found out loosely on Friday last week, but it was confirmed this week … it means we’ve got essentially two weeks left to operate.”

Ms Thompson said they expected a massive backlash to Stonnington Council’s decision from loyal customers — big and small — when news got out they would soon shut.

And she slammed the council for failing to notify them earlier of the tender results and said it made it impossible for them to plan for their cafe’s future.

Cubbyhouse Canteen is rated 4.3 stars on Google and has glowing reviews.

The cafe was part of the Victorian Tennis Academy site, where youngsters including Sophie and Frankie enjoyed a hit.

Less than a week ago happy customer Helen Manisty said she had celebrated her son’s third birthday at the cafe and she praised the staff for their “top notch food and service”.

Jonathon Sprott said even the fussiest of eaters would find something delicious to eat on the menu.

While Tishanna Barbier said the fourth birthday she attended there recently went off without a hitch.

“It was great for our hosts, as all they needed to do was arrive and everything was taken care of,” she wrote.

Ms Thompson called on the council to provide her and her sister with compensation or help to find another site nearby where they could operate.

Stonnington Council and the Victorian Tennis Academy have been contacted for comment.

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