Our café and plastic-free refill shop are getting a spring makeover!

The café, which will be renamed Flo’s Café, community area and garden will be closed from 4pm on Saturday 20 March for two weeks to allow for the renovations. The midwifery service and nursery will remain open as usual, with the café reopening on Saturday 4 April at 10am.

New features at Flo’s Café – which is in the heart of leafy Florence Park next to the children’s playground – will include a much bigger terrace with sunshade sail over the kids’ area and a spacious buggy park. Indoors, there will be a different seating layout, partial table service and a menu focusing on fresh, ethical and local ingredients.

The team behind Flo’s will take over running the cafe from Fresh Connections, which helped set it up when the community-owned and run initiative first opened in 2018.

With a strong focus on nutrition and seasonal food from different cultures, the mainly plant-based menu will be cooked to order to ensure minimal waste.

The café will have a week-long soft launch from April 4 to trial menus and new systems.

The re-launch ties in with the expansion of the popular Refill Shop on the same site. There will be double the food products on sale and a range of new tasty items including olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chocolate covered nuts and granola.

The Refill Shop will also be switching to a self-service system, supported by volunteers on-hand to help with the transition. It stocks plastic-free dry foods, detergents and toiletries.

It’s hoped that people who use the Refill Shop will also make the most of the new-look café, which will have a family-friendly menu and adiner-style circular booth, which can be booked for larger groups and special occasions.

Centre Co-Manager, Makena Lohr, says: “Flo’s café welcomes people from all walks of life and all ages to meet and enjoy good food,” says Makena. “Some features, like the free-to-use community space for children, will remain, while others will get a makeover. The new layout will have more smaller tables as well as a couple of larger ‘family’ tables. We hope the buggy store will be an improvement for both parents and customers, and will create more space and light indoors.”

Flo’s really wants the community to be part of the café – and they are inviting foodies to donate their favourite cookbooks and recommend a recipe. The best ones will be added to the café menu, with a name-check, whilst the cookbooks will become part of a library.

As part of Flo’s commitment to supporting the community, there will also be a token-based ‘pay it forward’ system where people can buy a stranger a drink, snack or meal.

Colour-coded tokens will be in one of three jars, meaning the people in need can help themselves without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.

Flo’s Café will be open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, and 10am-5pm on weekends. The Refill Shop is open Wednesdays 12.30pm-8:30pm and Saturdays 12.30pm-5pm. All funds from the café and shop will be ploughed back into Flo’s.