The Leisure Park

Eat, drink and be merry

There is no wisdom without leisure.{c}

A place to relax and enjoy life‍‍

SEE ALSO: the other location at The Seaside, The Mule Yard.

What’s There?

The intention behind developing the Leisure Park was to provide a public amenity space in Jamestown. It competes with The Mule Yard, providing two business spaces intended for use as food outlets plus a sports facility and a concert area. However, unlike the Mule Yard, none of the outlets is permitted to serve alcoholic drinks. Please refer to the plan and detailed unit descriptions (below).

Below: Unit 1: The Coffee Shop Unit 2: A Food Outlet Unit 3: Sports Area Unit 4: Performance Stage

The Coffee Shop

The Sports Area

Unit 1: The Coffee Shop

Unit 1 is currently occupied by The Coffee Shop, which opens at lunchtimes on some weekdays and Saturdays (and usually whenever a ship is in), providing hot food, either as take-away or for consumption on the provided picnic tables, as well as (of course) St Helena Coffee from the Rosemary Gate Estate.

Unit 2: A Food Outlet

Unit 2 is also occupied by a food outlet, providing food for both take-away and eat-in (in a covered area, as indicated in the plan, 2a - built in January 2009). The proprietor changes periodically.

Unit 3: Sports Area

Unit 3 is officially part of the Leisure Park, and thus available for public use. However it has been effectively annexed into the New Horizons Youth Club, which manages all bookings. A high fence separates it from the rest of the leisure park, to keep wayward sports balls under control.

Unit 4: Performance Stage

Unit 4 was intended as a performance stage, with the audience standing or seated in the sports area. However, because it is enclosed within the protective fence for the Sports Area (Unit 3) it is rarely used, most performances taking place in The Mule Yard.

History

At one time a tennis court{1}, and more recently the Government ‘Cement Yard’, used to store building materials and related junk, conversion to a public amenity space began in 2000, funded by a United Nations Development Project grant.

Ownership of the facility was vested in a Working Group consisting of a Legislative Council councillor and representatives of the Government of St Helena, the St Helena Heritage Society, the Environment, and Social Services (who were charged with ensuring that the Park’s construction be done using local unemployed contractors and labourers).

It took two years to build The Park. It was opened by Deputy Governor John Styles on 31st January 2002. The first large-scale use of the park was the Careers Fair on 12th February 2002.