Picnic Point Cafe Toowoomba shuts doors despite promise to stay open
After weeks of uncertainty surrounding the future of Picnic Point Cafe, dozens of visitors looking for a cup of coffee were shocked to find the iconic destination closed to the public this week. This is the latest.
After Picnic Point Cafe and Restaurant announced they would remain open, dozens of visitors were shocked to find the venue’s doors were closed this week.
The iconic Toowoomba hotspot announced it would be closing on July 1 when the current lease was set to expire, but the same day they were set to close they announced that the cafe would remain open.
Picnic Point Cafe even advertised for a casual wait staff job on Seek at the start of the month, but this week customers found the doors were shut.
There have been no updates on the Picnic Point website or Facebook page to reflect the closure and online the cafe still appears to be open.
A Picnic Point Cafe spokesperson said that the cafe has been closed this week in preparations to sell the business, which leases the premises from the state government.
He said the cafe would reopen next week but only for takeaway coffees and ice cream.
One family had come up for the day from Ipswich and didn’t know until they got to the door on Thursday morning, that the cafe was closed.
“We wouldn’t have driven all the way to Toowoomba, if we’d known,” one of them said.
Jane Gatehouse said she always comes up to the cafe from Helidon when she has visitors, to admire the view.
“I have also been to the restaurant a few times and it’s just beautiful,” she said.
“I didn’t realise it was closed already. It’s such a shame.”
A local customer had come up for a cuppa and morning walk around the parklands and was also unaware of the closure.
“It got so busy, especially like Carnival of Flowers time. It brought a lot of people up here,” she said.
“So what’s going to happen now, are they just going to let it go?
“Is there nothing going to go there at all?”
Originally published as Picnic Point Cafe Toowoomba shuts doors despite promise to stay open