A NEW community cafe serving "lovely, low-cost refreshments" has opened in Basingstoke.
The King's Cafe, in Kings Road, South Ham, opened its doors at 10am on Tuesday, October 1 and promises to be a "community space" for locals.
Manager Nicky Blunden, 59, saw a "gap in the market," following the closure of various community hubs in the area, including The Beacon pub and Westside Community Centre.
Serving a range of coffees, cakes paninis and jacket potatoes, The King's Cafe will initially open three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday, with the hope to expand to open further days.
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She said: "Due to the loss of Westside Community Centre and other amenities in South Ham, we have decided to open the cafe to offer a new community space, providing lovely, low-cost refreshments.
"South Ham has lost a lot, the library, the butchers, and we wanted to open up somewhere where locals can come and meet up again. That was the aim," Nicky added.
Nicky explained how SNG provided the site, in the unit formerly occupied by TTHL Traditional Butchers, in order to create the community cafe.
She said: "Westside closed because of RAAC, and SNG put this place up to standard, refurbished it, and along with funding from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, and other sources, we were able to continue with this project.
"We have 10 members of staff across the group, and the rest are volunteers. The King's Cafe is mainly run by volunteers so there is a real community feel to it."
In addition to this, the cafe is also the new home to the Basingstoke Community Food Pantry.
The pantry, formerly in a temporary location in the car park at the old Westside Community Centre, now has its own permanent home in the back of the cafe.
Nicky said: "it's a permanent place at last, so it's a lot nicer for the volunteers and all involved."
Differing from a foodbank, the pantry is available to access for a fee of £5, which will allow visitors to pay for 12 items of food which have been donated by organisations such as FareShare, Basingstoke Community Food Link, Morrisons and Farm Foods, all of which Nicky described as "amazing."
She added: "So come and meet new people in the new hub of South Ham, this is a new community space for all."
Readers can find out more about The King's Cafe by going to facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562682966988
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