Earlham Park Cafe blocked by Let's Rock event in Norwich

Let's Rock, an 80s music festival, returns to Earlham Park in Norwich on Saturday (August 19) between 11am and 10.30pm, with the music starting at midday. 

However for Earlham Park Cafe, located in The Gardens of the park, the event brings with it a knock-on effect to trade and limited access for its customers while the event puts up and breaks down the site over roughly two weeks.

The fence put up between the Let's Rock festival and Earlham Park Café (Image: Ingrid Henry)

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The petition, which has more than 180 signatures, is to "recognise the detrimental effect that blocking out Earlham Park Cafe from events has on their trade".

It also calls for alternative arrangements, or locations within the park, to be considered to allow events to "coexist harmoniously with the cafe".

Ingrid Henry, who owns Earlham Park Cafe with her husband Akan, said: "One of our customers set it up and the support has been amazing.

Ingrid Henry, owner of Earlham Park Café with her daughter, Twinkle aged 10 (Image: Ingrid Henry)

"It's a fantastic community of people who use the park and we're hugely grateful to everyone who supports us - both now and all year round as well.

"Hopefully it will force action from event organisers and the city council going forward."

Earlham Park Cafe is open from 9.30am until 4.30pm.

The petition in support of the café has nearly reached 200 signatures (Image: Ingrid Henry)

A Norwich City Council spokesman said: "The council brings a range of entertaining and cultural events to Norwich that thousands of people enjoy every year.

"Earlham Park is set to host five mid-scale or large events in 2023, which we recognise can cause some disruption. 

"To minimise this we work closely with event organisers, making sure that there is access to the cafe at all times and placing signage to direct people there from the river."

Let's Rock will be on Saturday, August 19 from 11am until 10.30pm, but teams will be around for nearly two weeks setting up and stripping down (Image: Ingrid Henry)

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However, Ingrid added: "Now the show is being set up people can see the massive impact it's having on the business.

"We feel insignificant compared to these bigger companies.

"I don't want to cause trouble - just run the business as normal - but not once have we been taken into consideration."

The petition in support of Earlham Park Café has reached nearly 200 signatures (Image: Ingrid Henry)