This Sunday’s Northern Rail Fixture against Oldham will see a new debut at Cougar Park , with the opening of the new ‘Progress Café’ , based in the former ’Freddies Grill’’ at the back of the main stand .

The project , a first for rugby league is a joint venture between the Cougars Your Sporting Chance and Local Organization Project 6 and will operate as a social enterprise , with all profits ploughed back into expanding the services offered by the Café .

Project 6 based on Temple Street Keighley , has been established in the town for over 20 years and deals with services around substance and alcohol misuse .They work to reduce the harm caused by misuse and reach out to those who have decided to make a positive change in their lifestyles.Progress Café will give a chance for Project 6 clients to gain valuable skills and work experience after rehabilitation.

Cougar Park regular and Local Butcher Andy Aspinall will be one of the main suppliers for the Café . Andy’s pies produced at his Smithies Butchers business in Kirkgate ,Silsden , contain meat from only local sourced animals will served with peas and all the traditional trimmings . Home made soups and quality hot drinks will also feature on the menu., with the emphasis on using local produce and suppliers.` The Café will also take responsibility for providing and serving the post match food for players and match officials .

The evolution of the Café has been made possible after support from Local Social Housing Company , Incommunities , who back the Cougars Youth Project ‘Your Sporting Chance’. They have ,with the input of local companies Howdens and Davric completely renovated the kitchen . Support has also come from the Local Council Area Panel.

Please Support Project 6 in this new venture..

This first week we will be introducing meat and potato pies ,cheese and onion pasties and there will be a sausage roll incorporated in to a kids style snack pack,it's really important to drive home the fact that this is all locally sourced meats and cheeses that are used in the pies,rest assured no e numbers,chemical flavourings etc, just quality produce,let's make cougar park the place to enjoy a pie and a pint!!!! GREEN ARMY!

I for one can vouch for the quailty of the meat.
I get my meat from Andy. I have never had meat as good from anywhere else.
Its a great idea and i hope its a roaring success.

Thank you Jim thats very kind of you.

Extra sausage for Jim then

My wife and I will give it a try.

Any possibility of releasing the menu?

That said, a decent pie, peas and mint sauce would be brilliant!

What time does it open?

Not too sure on when they go on sale,I think about 2ish, collecting them from me about 10 to get them to the kitchen but they then need warming up to temperature and were talking quite large quantity,bare in mind it's a new venture for them also and will take time to fine tune but I guarantee you it will be worth the wait.

In terms of menu, I think the idea is to do pies one week,wait for feed back from customers plus also amount sold etc, then take it from there,it may well be a case of one week pies,next game burgers or hot dogs etc, the kitchen is very limited for space so it's a suck it and see thing really, fans feed back if you'll pardon the pun is crutial so don't be shy of giving honest opinions,it's the only way we can make it a success,again though I/were confident of the quality so let's see.

Good luck to all with this, sounds a great idea

Please Andrew - don't say that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hasn't anyone thought about the kick-off time of 14.00 (2-ish)?

If I'm going to anticiapte having some grub at Lawkholme then I need to know that it will be available BEFORE kick-off, not at the same time as the game starts! How do you expect my wife will respond when I tell her that I'm 'taking her out for dinner' and when we get ther there's nothing to eat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please tell me that someone has got this wrong and sorted or I'll have to eat at home and miss your pies and the 'excellent idea' will have lost income even before it starts!!!!!!!

Apologies for responding again, so soon, Rach, but is it 'NEW' or 'NO' food on Sunday?

666, I have heard from a reliable source that food will be available from 1pm, so you can treat the other half to lunch now, just save some pies for the rest of us

I'm very fond of a good pie so will certainly be trying this out.

The enterprise sounds like a good idea and deserves to be supported.

Good to hear some really positive comments about the Cafe on here .

I'm sure Ellie and her team from Project 6 will be heartened to read them .

I know there are plenty of folk working their derrieres off this weekend to make the venture a success . [i(Not least a certain Mr Korkidas and Mr Obst who have spent some time this week making sure that everything is ready for the big launch !!) [/i All we need now is folks to spread the word amongst your fellow fans and support the Cafe .

I'm sure Andy's pies will go down a storm !!!

As has already been alluded to on a previous thread , much of the graft and negotiation behind the scenes to get the place operational has been done by Mary Calvert , who came up with the original idea and has put a massive effort to get all the business backing and support to make it happen .

ENJOY YOUR GRUB AND SPREAD THE WORD !!!

It sounds like a lot of people will be trying this out.

I hope they dont run out before i get one.

The cafe sounds great, hope it goes down really well. I will have to try it another week... already had Sunday dinner plans for this week.

So have i, but i would never turn down, the chance of have a dam good pie.

Excellent pies - but I was expecting a traditional pork pie!

Could I suggest mint sauce made with vinegar as opposed to mint jelly - would be cheaper also.

Keep up the good work!

I had a cracking pie.

Some negatives about it.

1) No soup. Hopefully next time.

2) If this is going to be a permanent fixture. Then someone needs to get rid of the burger van. This takes trade away from it and it also takes trade away from the little tea/coffee window that the club has.

Another negative is the notice on the door of the bar stating 'No Fast Food to be Connsumed in this Bar'! Why not if it's being sold in the ground?

I agree there. I have been thinking the same thing.

I think there should also be signs directing people to where the food is. I'd imagine many people still don't know that this food was available. I only just got to the ground for kick off though so I don't know if there was any announcements over the tannoy?

Anyway, is it just pork pies available there or is there anything different available for the awkward non-meat eaters like myself?

A very good idea having the food in the bar.

Hope it did well.

I think it would be 'MICKY1920' but, despite the weather today, food wasn't permitted to be consumed in the bar! More fine-tuning required before next week?

Thank you for the feed back guys,all things to work on but without you the customers we can't move forward,hope today made your expectations,just bare in mind it's a debut for us too.

I had pie & gravy in the bar after the game. Very nice it was too.