Tamworth Regional Council’s Manager Sports & Recreation Paul Kelly was today joined by State Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson and Joblink Plus CEO Christine Shewry to open the new café in Viaduct Park next to the popular skate park.

Constructed from multiple shipping containers offsite and then delivered and assembled in Tamworth, the café is now complete and open for business.

Joblink Plus Hospitality Trainer Shaun Abra brewed the café’s first coffee this morning. Mr Abra will be managing the café and is one of the staff helping to train young local community members looking to gain employable skills.

Identified as a priority in previous community consultation, Joblink Plus will operate the café and provide a range of accredited hospitality training programs for young trainees looking to gain work experience in customer service, food handling, preparation and cooking, stock rotation, point of sale and small business skills.

Trainees will develop transferable employability skills, nationally accredited units of competency and structured workplace experience with the aim of enabling a successful transition to sustainable mainstream employment.

Paul Kelly, Manager Sports & Recreation said “We’re excited that Viaduct Park now has its own cafe, which will serve a dual purpose in making time spent in Viaduct Park more enjoyable, as well as teaching young adults in our community employable skills. We are gradually working towards developing Viaduct Park into a recreational meeting place for young people in Tamworth, and it’s great to see one more piece of the puzzle slot into place.”

Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson said this project is one of the most exciting community developments being delivered by Tamworth Regional Council.

“Seeing the first shipping containers being lifted into place last month was an exciting time for the people of Tamworth as we oversaw the construction of our latest café,” Mr Anderson said.

“Tamworth is quickly becoming known for our parks and I’m thrilled that Viaduct Park will now have a café to accompany the state-of-the-art skate park and modern amenities. The icing on the cake is that young people will have an opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade on the job in this café and I thank Joblink Plus for their commitment to upskilling our community.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce said projects such as the Viaduct Park Café have the potential to invigorate the area and local businesses.

“Not only will Joblink provide crucial skills and hospitality training to the next generation of local workers, surrounding shops and businesses will also benefit as the café increases visitation to that end of town,” Mr Joyce said.

Joblink Plus CEO Christine Shewry said the social enterprise model would create opportunities for young people in an industry always seeking staff.

Joblink Plus is delighted to work with the NSW Government and Tamworth Regional Council in providing accessible, real-life, hands-on training for young people. The young trainees who complete their certificate through the Skate Park Café will be highly skilled and ready for work within our vibrant local hospitality scene.”

The Youth Training Café is an element of Tamworth Regional Council’s Viaduct Park master plan, adopted in May 2020, which can be found at https://haveyoursay.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/viaduct-pa...

The Youth Training Café has been funded by the NSW Government’s Stronger Country Communities Fund, contributing $369,173 to the project. Additional embellishments to the café including a rooftop dining space and alfresco area downstairs dining space have been awarded a further $210,000 funding from the Australian Government’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. The new café has also received a $25,000 contribution from Tamworth Regional Council and a $25,000 contribution from operator Joblink Plus.