If all goes as planned, UBC’s only freestanding restaurant, The Barn, will close on March 31.

This popular lunching spot for Engineering and Forestry students will stop serving rice bowls and burgers and instead serve parents and their children when it becomes a temporary daycare facility.

The café will re-open in January 2011, adding 24-hour care spaces for toddlers and three- to five-year-olds. The $700,000 renovation is part of a larger project aiming to increase the amount of daycare services available for students on campus.

“We’ve already opened 108 new spaces this year. The total spaces we are looking to open through these renovations is 148 additional daycare spaces,” explained Managing Director of Student Housing and Hospitality Services Andrew Parr.

According to Parr, The Barn has not been “financially viable” for some time. He believes that the conversion makes good logistical and business sense.

So why a childcare centre? “The demand for childcare is very high and we were challenged with the task of looking for more short-term and long-term for the campus,” said Parr.
“With the growth of food [services] in other areas and the demand for childcare I see this as a very positive move for UBC,” said Parr.

Not everyone is as optimistic as Parr about the change. UBC student Jake Malone, who eats at The Barn regularly, is worried that the loss of The Barn will mean less original eating options on the south side of campus.

“There are a few other places on the south side within existing buildings to serve eating purposes, but they are smaller and more indistinct. They lack the qualities that allow for the inclusiveness of The Barn and its atmosphere within,” he explained.

There will be food places opening up on the south side of campus for students like Malone, assured Parr.

New restaurants and cafés are set to open shortly after The Barn re-opens, such as the Niche Cafe, which will be located in the Biodiversity Building. The Earth Systems Science Building and the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability also have food outlets set to open in the next year.

Parr also said that The Barn’s staff were made aware of the proposal in advance and no jobs would be lost as a result of the closure.

The pre-existing Childcare Administration Building at Acadia Park will also become a part-time childcare facility, and there are plans to develop the Penthouse Lounge at the Graduate Student Centre pending approval.