Dome Cafe East Victoria Park

[Swampy]

Hi All,
I realise that there are probably many of you who are not fans of Facebook and therefore have in some cases been happy to not to have read my entries over the last week or two!

Well sorry folks here I am!!

A bit of background to start with!! Unfortunately Diverso (Dome) had to close which was quite sad as the owners were great people and did there best to look after us so well!!

As a result Cookie arranged with the clubs old haunt "Cats" to fill the gap and to cater for us again!

Last Sunday I attended with many of the club faithful and not only me but quite a few others made comment about the cramped seating arrangements on the footpath and the loud volume of noise we experienced there!
Also many passers by had trouble squeezing past on the footpath and some took the risk of walking by on the road in the traffic!!

Some may say it was always like that before when the club was there but I guess some others of us got spoilt by Diverso by being able to have conversations at a reasonably comfortable level and being able to sit eat and drink in an more social and inviting atmosphere!

As I was one of those no longer being comfortable at Cats, I arranged a test run at an alternate site, That being Dome Cafe in East Victoria Park which is situated on the corner of Westminster street and Albany Hwy. and is across the road from the Balmoral Hotel,

I visited the place last Wednesday for a general recce and to get a feel for the place!

I thought it had promise and today went there with a number of other interested parties from the club.

My findings were Parking is available adjacent to Dome in Westminster St. and across the road outside the Hotel, although some cars were already parked there when I arrived at 0600 this morning.

There is also a very large public care park situated directly behind Dome for those concerned of being ticketed by the local Council Rangers by parking in the street!
I also found that at first, the choice of sitting out on the footpath was reasonably good with social intercourse being at an acceptable level!
Unfortunately once the sun rose over the roofs of buildings across Albany Hwy. we found ourselves blinded by the sun and as it rose higher got quite hot and to uncomfortable to sit in!

Fortunately Dome also has a reasonably large Patio dining area at the entrance where we found shade, a roof cover and a quiet area to socialise!

Dome Service was typically good and the coffee, tea and food very acceptable.

A fair few members attended this morning but I neglected to get their feedback! Hopefully some will make their comments known on this and or the Facebook Forum?

As I have mentioned on Facebook today, No one likes change and old habits die hard and I fully comprehend those feelings but I for one feel a positive move must be made away from Cats with it's inherent crowding and noise and a move to be made to Dome, East Vic. Park!!
Thank you to those of you who came and tested the water this morning, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of people who came down and as least tried the new venue instead of dismissing the idea out of hand!

Our President Graeme Cooke and a few others made their way up from Cats to also check out the facilities but once again unfortunately I had left by then and missed talking to them!!

I would be very grateful for all and any feedback from todays events please!

It's Your Club and Your choice!

Regards to all

Swampy

[pspencer]

Well said as usual Swampy, thanks for explaining to all your case for the shift. Having sampled both Cats and Dome in the last 2 weeks Dome is definitely my preference. With Dome opening at 6am as opposed to Cats at 7am it suits my early Sunday coffee injection. See you and the others at Dome next Sunday.