Farewell Laggan Cafe.

I shall choose to remember you as what you once were and not what you latterly became.

Good luck to the operators of the new facility if and when that becomes a reality.

According to the Strathspey & Badenoch the planning permission for the mobile huts has been extended for three years so the new facility looks like it will be a long way off.

Those cabins are falling down…can’t see em lasting 3 years….

Was speaking to Gail when I was up and they had been promised new buildings for years but never delivered on that so are calling it a day as the buildings are so run down, and in my previous post I was pointing out that the facilitys are run down, they just need maintenance and to be maintained, there was nothing in them and the smell could curl a pair of five tens.

>and the more serious eroded/mudfest trails that the “beardie trekster” crew adore as proper mountainbiking.<

great forum name that – someone should grab it 😉

I can’t find any details of anything other than this website…what is happening? Was trying to plan a work weekend trip up there but looks like I’ll need to try and get it sorted in the next 2 weeks if we want to use the cafe (which always suited my needs – food in return for some coinage).

Trails will be unaffected by whatever else is going on I guess?

There was a post on one these Laggan threads from someone suggesting that the current cafe and shop we’re going stay open, but under different management.

phantomnessie – Member
OK BROTHERS! I HEAR YOU!

Im a local, and live in a biking family. We love the trax, like u guys do, but, yes, the cafe has lost its way a bit. Sadly, Gail IS going in Oct, but FEAR NOT! there WILL be a cafe and a BIKE SHOP…. AND A NEW VISITORS CENTRE.

The thing is, some of us are thinking about taking over the cafe…. bring it back to its hey-day, give bikers what they need. a smile, a chat, a bog they can use, some good energy giving scran and a decent cuppa. BUT, we need to know that you guys will come back and give us another go.

Noone likes how it is at the moment, including the staff. it cant be fun trying to run something good in what is basically a shed. (also finding staff is a bitch round here…theres only about 5 people who live here lol, so we aint got a lot to work with,and it hasnt made for silver service)

the new centre wont be over the top, and theres a good fight on to make sure that BIKING is what comes first, (despite plenty of local politics)

SO, i guess this is a “holding post” – give us a bit of time, dont right the trax off yet, keep the faith, and us locals will see what we can do,

Would be interesting to see if the 3 year planning extension means someone else will be taking over the existing facilities until a newer centre is sorted.

Have always had mixed feelings about the facilities at Laggan.
Could never understand how it could be commercially viable – busy summer weekends but dead during the week.
It has been a great mixed ability venue, especially with kids.
Didn’t like all the ‘Irritated from Laggan’ notices – take your litter home, don’t eat picnics, dont ask for technical advice (OK I won’t but I also won’t buy any parts)
Unhelpful attitude in the cafe – we’ll be too busy to have a kids party (they weren’t but missed out on £££ as we brought a BBQ)
The uplift is closed today – no driver due to the shinty club hoolie last night)
Great cakes

However with no facilities I think usage will really fall off – will FC bother maintainng the trails then?

There’s a guy who goes to the farmers markets in glasgow has a wee van with a bespoke built in proper espresso machine. I’ve told him, if I was you get a dose of cakes made up and get yer ass up to Laggan. Would make a fortune.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2013/01/Scotlands-national-parks10012013

funding has been committed to a new visitor centre at Laggan Wolf Trax.

great find druidh – salmond is very good at certain things and nae so good at some others…..

visitor centre ? is that an improvement on whats there already io wonder ?

You are joking? The place is a dump

There was a tender for running the “new” cafe. Looks like there has been some interest…

http://www.lagganforest.com/news/7-jan-2013-wolftrax.asp

Presumably the tender referred to is:

http://www.lagganforest.com/news/6-dec-2012-laggan-wolftrax-business-opportunities.asp

If so it is for a relatively short term venture for 1 (or possibly 2) years starting around Easter this year. So presumably would use the existing facilities rather than a new visitor centre.

>You are joking? The place is a dump<

Joking about what – the trails, the location, the cafe?

As The Hub clearly demonstrated you don’t “need” a 21st century building to make a go of it. I’d be very interested to see how this additional funding manifests itself – will it be in the form of another FC architectural statement or can it be used to support a local community initiative where the residents / trust are in the driving seat.

Also in that link of Druidh’s:

>including path improvement work in the Angus Glens, Glenlivet, Aviemore and Glemore.<

So in 6 months time we can look forward to some forum moaning about trail sanitisation, giant Waterbars and the like 😉

Again, it would be interesting to see some actual detail on these so called shovel ready projects.

The full invitation to tender for 2013/2014 is here:

http://tinyurl.com/adfcvgz

Doesn’t include any new facilities.

The trails are some of the best in the UK.

The cafe and facilities are the most unhygienic I’ve ever seen at a trail centre.

Again, it would be interesting to see some actual detail on these so called shovel ready projects.

There’s a load of stuff on Facebook for Glenlivet: Shovel ready..

Edit – Here’s some more information. Looks like fun. Linky

The cafe and facilities are the most unhygienic I’ve ever seen at a trail centre.

FTFY.

Interesting development though – certainly one to watch to see if any of the ruckus made about Glentress filters through to here.

You are joking? The place is a dump

Well if people keep trailing their mucky feet in it will get like this. It’s not like you go mountain biking to keep clean.

Can you still turn up, park and ride the trails?? Or is it closed off??

It’s Scotland – of course you can ride the trails.

Mark it was a bit more than mud!! Somebody had a dirty protest and covered the place. Probably protesting at the signs about using the loos!

At least The Hub had clean tables and was pleasant to eat in, this place was shocking!

Euain

Yup familiar with Glenlivet but all that funding was secured yonks ago – unless of course they are feeding more in?

>The cafe and facilities are the most unhygienic I’ve ever seen at a trail centre<

Like I said, seemed to me to be no better nor worse than the old Hub – non?

Difficult to comment really without a full understanding of the dynamics. I thought the whole Laggan thing was community driven (which is how it should be in my view.) However, the FC tendered the original cafe opp, which ultimately failed, and now they are advertising another short term let. Before doing what – going X3 over budget on another award chasing building?

Don’t think I’ve had need to use the toilets but last time I was there I witnessed a staff member pishing off the end of the decking then going in to the cafe. Hand washing? No.

Mark it was a bit more than mud!! Somebody had a dirty protest and covered the place. Probably protesting at the signs about using the loos!

Well that’s a whole different matter!

A fecal matter?