Help keep the Vaults and Garden Cafe open
Help keep the Vaults and Garden Cafe open
Latest: July 7, 2025
Why we need £100,000
A message from Will Pouget, cafe founder….
More than two years has passed since I and the cafe’s operating company were given three months’ notice as trespassers to quit the Old Con…
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More than two years have passed since the parochial council of the University church in Oxford led by the vicar, the Revd William Lamb, gave three months' notice to quit to Vaults & Garden cafe founder, Will Pouget, and operating company, Fresh Connection Ltd.
The vicar announced at the time that he wished to spend £750,000 on developing the building and run the cafe himself as a "social enterprise." The church has been receiving more than £100,000 a year in rent from the Vaults which proves its success and popularity with the local community.
After three preliminary hearings, the case has now been listed to begin on 28th October in the High Court in London. The cafe's legal costs to date of defending the action have escalated to more than £100,000 and are expected to reach at least £150,000 by the time the trial is concluded.
While the Vaults & Garden has been a profitable venue for 20 years, the sums of money now involved have become too great for the company to manage from its own resources. Which is why we need your help.
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The strength of public support for the cafe has been demonstrated by the more than 15,500 people who have signed the petition, Save the Vaults & Garden cafe on change.org (https://www.change.org/p/save-the-vaults-garden-cafe).
Now we need the financial support of all those who have loved and enjoyed the cafe over many years to help us win this case. All monies donated will go to a client account at the company's solicitors and reserved for our legal costs .
Will Pouget and the Vaults team will be very grateful for any support that you can give, however small, and hope that together we will be successful in saving our beloved Vaults & Garden cafe.
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The Vaults & Garden team
July 7, 2025
Why we need £100,000
A message from Will Pouget, cafe founder….
More than two years has passed since I and the cafe’s operating company were given three months’ notice as trespassers to quit the Old Congregation House by our landlord, the Parochial Church Council led by the vicar, the Revd Will Lamb.
The public response against the eviction proceedings which have followed has been demonstrated by the 15,660 supporters of the cafe who have signed the Save the Vaults petition on change.org.
At the time, I had no idea of the level of legal costs that would be needed to defend our claim that we had a statutory tenancy resulting from our 20 years of occupation and substantial investment in the premises.
As the legal process has unfolded, our costs have escalated dramatically and we have had the benefit of the advice of a leading firm of solicitors together with a barrister specialised in both property and ecclesiastical law. They have extended credit to us in the belief that we will win our case eventually but I had no idea when we began how long this might take.
We are now faced with a trial in the High Court in London and our legal costs are already in excess of £100,000 with the need for at least another £30,000 before trial begins at the end of October.
The Vaults & Garden has been a successful and profitable small business but is not able to afford the level of costs which have been incurred to date and which are needed to continue our fight.
Our opponent is a wealthy charity with assets of more than £2 million and income of more than £700,000 a year. We are a very small business by comparison and I have tried to settle this dispute without success despite my best efforts to seek mediation.
We need urgent financial help now if we are to survive this legal battle and continue to keep the Vaults & Garden open for the benefit of all of you who love us and the future of our devoted staff.
Please pass my message to all your friends and share on social media. Thank you for your support.
Will Pouget
The Vaults & Garden team
June 24, 2025
Appeal hits £10k target
We are glad to report that your support has enabled us to reach our initial appeal target of £10,000 this morning 12 days early, A big thank you to all 188 of you.
As a result, the appeal now goes live and your pledges will be debited. Our aim now is to raise £100,000 to pay costs already incurred and to finance further legal expenses before trial in London's High Court at the end of October.
The appeal end date renews every 30 days so we have more than four months to reach our final target meaning we need to raise at least £20,000 a month from now.
It is vital that you continue to share the appeal page on all of your social media, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and X. There is a Facebook button at the foot of the CrowdJustice page. Please press it as often as you can!
Also please ask at least 2 other friends to email 5-10 people with the link to the CrowdJustice page and request them to share too. WhatsApp is a very good medium to share the link.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-vaults-and-garden-cafe/
Once again, many thanks.
PS There is no need to pay the CrowdJustice tip!
The Vaults & Garden team
The Vaults & Garden team
June 20, 2025
Appeal hits 89% of first target
After only two weeks our appeal has raised £8,958 of our initial £10,000 appeal from 160 backers. Thank you all for your support.
Please be advised that CrowdJustice does not take any money from your pledge until we meet our first target which we expect to achieve shortly.
It is vital that you continue to share the appeal page on all of your social media, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and X. There is a Facebook button at the foot of the CrowdJustice page. Please press it as often as you can!
Also please ask at least 2 other friends to email 5-10 people with the link to the CrowdJustice page and request them to share too. WhatsApp is a very good medium to share the link.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-vaults-and-garden-cafe/
A big thank you once again to you all.
PS There is no need to pay the CrowdJustice tip!
The Vaults & Garden team
June 17, 2025
Appeal hits 70% of target!
We are pleased to report that our appeal has now raised £7,049 of our initial £10,000 target from 140 backers. Thank you all for your support.
Please be advised that CrowdJustice does not take any money from your pledge until we meet our first target which we hope to achieve soon.
It is vital that you continue to share the appeal page on all of your social media, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and X. There is a Facebook button at the foot of the CrowdJustice page. Please press it as often as you can!
Also please ask at least 2 other friends to email 5-10 people with the link to the CrowdJustice page and request them to share too. WhatsApp is a very good medium to share the link.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-vaults-and-garden-cafe/
A big thank you once again to you all.
PS There is no need to pay the CrowdJustice tip!
The Vaults & Garden team
June 10, 2025
From £5 to £999! Thank you!!!
Thank you all for so much support. After only three days we have reached 52% of our initial £10,000 goal with 90 backers and donations of between £5 and £999.
Please be advised that CrowdJustice does not take any money from your pledge until we meet our first target which we hope to achieve very soon now.
It is vital that you share the appeal page on all of your social media, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and X. There is a Facebook button at the foot of the CrowdJustice page.
Also please ask at least 2 other friends to email 5-10 people with the link to the CrowdJustice page and request them to share too. WhatsApp is a very good medium to share the link.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-vaults-and-garden-cafe/
We need to keep up the momentum now to achieve our first £10,000 goal.
A big thank you once again to you all.
PS There is no need to pay the CrowdJustice tip!
The Vaults & Garden team
June 9, 2025
After 48 hours, we've achieved 23% of our first goal!
Thank you for your support and we are glad to report that after 48 hours we have reached 23% of our initial £10,000 appeal.
Please be advised that CrowdJustice does not take any money from your pledge until we meet our first target which we hope to achieve soon.
So far 61 of you have joined our campaign and we would be glad if you could share the page on all of your social media. There is a Facebook button at the foot of the CrowdJustice page.
Also please ask at least 2 other friends to email 5-10 people with the link to the CrowdJustice page and request them to share too. WhatsApp is a very good medium to share the link.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-vaults-and-garden-cafe/
We need momentum now to achieve our first £10,000 goal.
A big thank you to you all.
PS There is no need to pay the CrowdJustice tip!
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