Berry Head is home to a colony of Greater Horseshoe Bats, a rare and threatened species. As another inhabitant of this special headland, we have a duty to ensure that we do not inadvertently cause harm to this species.
This spring and summer we had planned to expand our series of themed restaurant evenings. However when we discussed this with our landlords (Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust) they highlighted a potential risk to the bat colony which they asked Natural England, the organisation which oversees all England’s Nature Reserves, to review. The concern is that noise and light from the cafe, and/or pedestrian traffic out of the fort after dark, could interfere with the bats hunting behaviour and cause stress to the local bat population.
We are very keen to protect the bat colony (as well as Berry Head’s other rare species) and have accepted their ruling that, without further investigation, no evening events can be held at the cafe. We apologise for the impact this may have on our customers and hope you can understand the reasons why.
A full summary of the situation can be found on TCCT’s website here.
