Sea Change cafe gears up to open at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens

The team from Sea Change in South Shields have spent the past few months renovating the cafe and kitchen site at the venue - and they’re almost ready to welcome their first customers.

Overlooking the Winter Gardens’ tropical plants collection, the cafe has stood empty for more than a year, but will soon open as part of a wave of improvements at the site.

Sea Change will open their second site at the venue after building up a firm following since opening in Ocean Road, South Shields, in 2019.

They’ll be bringing their trademark features, such as vegan and vegetarian food, to the cafe, whilst also being able to expand their offering due to the size of the Winter Gardens site.

Finishing touches are being made to the cafe, which will have an orange and green theme, as well as featuring the Sea Change’s seahorse logo, with an official opening date to be announced in the coming days.

Like the original Sea Change, it will have a strong community ethos and provides employment opportunities for people who are neurodiverse, with 11 new roles created by the new branch.

Sea Change was established by AutismAble after they struggled to find employers willing to offer neurodivergent people a role.

Sarah Farrell-Forster, CEO and founder of Sea Change and AutismAble, said: “We started AutismAble in 2015 and soon found it difficult to get work placements for people, to find employers who will give people with autism and learning difficulties a chance.

“So we opened a cafe - and it shows, that given the right training and support, people can achieve things.”

Speaking about how the Sunderland site came about, Sarah added: “I’ve always wanted to have more Sea Change cafes and when I heard that Sunderland Museum was looking for a new cafe operator I went to have a look and put forward a business case.

“It’s such a good opportunity, it’s such a gorgeous space. It’s also so relaxing in there, we’re really excited about opening.

“It’s a much larger space than we have in South Shields and also gives us more opportunities to help neurodivergent people who need help in employment.

“Once established, we would also like to do an employability programme.”

The menu is being finalised, but people can expect some favourites from South Shields, including the Cheesas, which are the cafe’s popular grilled cheese sandwiches.

Other options will include brunches, vegan saveloy dips and vegan pies.

Once open, Sea Change Sunderland will be open Mondays to Saturdays, in line with the museum’s opening hours.

Museum & Winter Gardens improvements

It was recently announced that the Winter Gardens has been awarded £488,000 from the Arts Council.

It will be used to address issues with corrosion, glazing failure and mechanical systems within the Winter Gardens, protecting its tropical plant collections.

Sunderland City Council is planning to match fund this latest Arts Council funding with £171,000 from its own funds, bringing the total investment in repairs to the Winter Gardens to £660,000.

The much-loved Winter Gardens houses more than 2,000 species of plants below its glazed dome, with a curving staircase leading up to its treetop walkway. It also features a pond with Koi Carp and an impressive water sculpture.

The funding announcement comes as work nears completion on repairs to the roof and masonry of the original Grade II listed 1879 Museum & Winter Gardens.

This was carried out with the support of a £349,000 MEND2 grant from an earlier round of Arts Council funding in 2023, with the remaining £151,000 coming from the City Council.

It takes the total investment in improving the venue overall to more than a £1million.

This latest funding forms part of a package of funding that Sunderland City Council is pulling together for the museum, including plans to submit a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in May 2025 for a multi-million pound redevelopment of Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.