Newly-opened vegetarian co-operative cafe Beautiful Planet hopes to bring the community together to make a greener future for the area.
AdvertisementIt took three months of hard work from manager Brett Lund and a crew of volunteers to fix up the derelict shop on Friargate.
“Every square inch needed to be refurbished,” says Brett, of Church Street.
Beautiful Planet only opened last Thursday, but it already has regulars.
William Park, a poet from West Cliff, told us that he preferred the cafe to Starbucks: “There’s a good feel to it. It fits in with my community work. I may write a poem about it.”
The idea behind the project, says Brett, is to bring likeminded people who are concerned about green issues together. “Any groups who want to meet here are welcome, except for Fascists.” He says with a smile. “Although if times get hard we might let them in too,” to raucous laughter from the Fair-Trade tea and cake munching volunteers.
“I believe the planet is stuffed, but we’ve got to act like we can save it,” jokes Brett. “But we have already had some success bringing people together,” says Brett: “I found a new player for my 7-a-side football team The Anarchists.”
Brett hopes that with the support of volunteers the cafe might stay open for years to come: “Even if we stay open for a year it will be a success.”
The cafe may develop even further yet, as there are plans to open a sustainable garden out back where people can have a smoke. “We would like to have solar panels, but there’s no sun here.”