New food court at Wakefield's Ridings shopping centre closes

The Garden Kitchen, which featured five food outlets and seating for 240 people, opened in December at the Ridings shopping centre as part of a revamp that Ridings chiefs said was designed to ‘restore the pride’ in the 34-year-old centre.

But the Garden Kitchen is closed and a sign on the window informs shoppers: “Unfortunately, The Garden Kitchen operator has taken the decision to close the food outlets here.

“The Ridings team are working with a number of potential operators to get the space back up and running very soon, so please bear with us and enjoy the other eateries throughout the centre.”

The Garden Kitchen outlets were Boss Hogs Burgers & Dogs, Woks Up Noodle Bar, Yorkshire Puddings & Pies, Fat Frank’s Taco’s & Burritos and the Sweet Shack.

Lee Appleton, centre director at The Ridings said: “We expect to have some major development announcements for The Ridings in the coming weeks that will bring some exciting new leisure facilities to Wakefield.

“Unfortunately, the local operator of the food units within The Garden Kitchen took the decision to close the outlets in August to concentrate on other opportunities.

“The new leisure offer will give us an opportunity to significantly enhance what was there and we’re now working with a number of potential new operators to introduce a new and better food offer.

“2018 has been a great year for the Ridings – we’ve welcomed new stores, most recently Greenwoods.”

He added: “We’ve also got more exciting developments planned for 2018/19 and will have more positive news to share soon.”