The Highland Hospice is preparing to unveil a second community cafe in the heart of the city centre.
‘In the City Cafe’ will open its doors to the public next month within Eastgate Shopping Centre, as the charity takes ownership of the popular Archie Cafe, which was formally run by the Archie Foundation.
The new catering outlet will be operated by Cobbs, in partnership with the hospice, as part of their ‘Random Act of Kindness’ initiative.
The hospice’s head of fundraising Andrew Leaver said: “This is an exciting new venture for Highland Hospice and we are grateful to Cobbs for this wonderful opportunity and to the Eastgate Centre Management for their assistance.
“I would also like to say a huge thank you to the Archie Foundation who have been running the cafe up until now and have gifted us their equipment.
“This will greatly help us with our opening and will ensure that the community continues to benefit from the cafe being open.”
This will be the second venture of its kind for the charity, having previously opened their ‘By the River Cafe’ within the hospice on Bishop’s Road in 2016.
All profits will be directed towards the Crocus child and young person bereavement service at the facility.
The scheme has so far supported more than 100 children and young people since its launch two years ago.
David Wood, chief executive of the foundation, said the decision to cease operations has been difficult, but his organisation needed to work on other priorities.
He said: ‘The decision to stop operating the cafe was not taken lightly and was made to allow us to focus all our efforts in the Highlands on fundraising for the Highland Children’s Unit so that we can best support the children, families and staff at the unit.”
