BOLTON Council subsidised cafe pavilions at two of the borough's parks by more than £100,000 last year, it has been revealed.

Cllr Nick Peel confirmed this evening that the council had to fork out £62,000 to support the cafe at Queens Park and £47,000 at Moss Bank Park.

The council is now looking to outside businesses to take over the running of both cafe pavilions.

Responding to a question at tonight's council meeting from Tory leader Cllr David Greenhalgh, Cllr Peel said: "We did have to subsidise the cafes and I don't have a particular problem with our strategy here. We want to get people into our parks by giving them first-class facilities and we have to put in significant investment to do that."

He added: "This leads us to the point of bringing in external companies and organisations that specialise in this to reduce this subsidising.

"Nobody wants to see them closed, but in this time of cuts we can't perform this level of subsidy."

Cllr Greenhalgh said that a "great deal of work" had been done on the pavilions' design and sustainability as they were high-profile, landmark developments.

Cllr Peel, the council's cabinet member for environmental services, said that the council should be proud of the work done in both locations and that they were a "brilliant" addition to Bolton.

The £500,000 Moss Bank Park cafe opened in 2014 after the previous eatery was destroyed in a fire. Council chiefs used insurance money from the previous cafe and an portion of a £2 million park investment scheme to build the new establishment.

The Queens Park facility opened in 2012 and was part of a lottery-funded project costing almost £1 million.

Cllr Greenhalgh said afterwards: "Sadly, if this had been a charity or community group, applying for such investment for such a scheme from the Council, they would have had to jump through hoops supplying a business plan and proof of sustainability, but when it is the Council's own project, the same criteria seems somewhat less robust, and one would have to say, flawed.

"However glossier picture the Labour Group attempts to paint, the fact remains these cafes are now costing the people of Bolton £100,000 a year, money that could otherwise be spent on front line services.

"These cafes were intended to be be able to be paying back some of the initial investment, not costing us more year on year. Another flawed decision now costing the council taxpayers of this town."