THE first stage of a major town centre development has been completed after West Central cafe officially opened its doors last week.
The coffee shop, which took over the former Kandootoo shop in London Road, Redhill, is owned and run by Christ Central and is the first not-for-profit cafe in the town.
Developers and volunteers have been working around the clock since the project was granted planning permission last November, with the majority of effort going into getting the shop off the ground.
"This was the priority," said Christ Central church pastor Alisdair Semple. "I would say 80 per cent of our effort was to get this off the ground first.
"The rest of the development will go a bit slower now. We had a big professional team dealing with this but now we're going to be working with smaller teams."
On the cafe's first week, which employs four full-time and four part-time staff, he added: "We've been really encouraged.
"It's been a real mix of people in here but we know it's got to establish itself as a business and that takes time. We'll be happy when this place becomes a part of people's regular lives.
"We're running as a not-for-profit organisation so as far as what the business makes it will go back into the community. We think we're the only community shop owned by a church and we're still trying to work out how best to make that work. So from the church perspective this is like our front room.
"We don't want people to feel we've got them here under false pretences – we want people to feel welcome.
"If we find this is doing well we'll employ more staff.
"All the customer feedback has been really positive so far.
"I was sitting here for a while one day last week, watching people hanging around.
"I don't think we're cheap and cheerful, but we're probably the only place where you can buy coffee for a pound."
Tim Hewitt, a manager at the coffee shop, said: "We're really happy so far and are busy getting to know people in the town."
With the coffee shop now bringing in customers the team is gearing up to complete the development, which will include office space for small start-up businesses, a youth area, counselling rooms, conference facilities and room for other community uses.
There are also plans to put on live performances in the cafe.
According to Mr Semple, the office space should be available next month while the rest of the development should be completed by September or October.
