The Eden Project in Cornwall has opened a green community café – its first outside the iconic project – at White River Place in St Austell.
The Eden Project has opened the 2,900 sq ft café on a five-year lease. It will pay the landlord, White River Developments, a rent of £75,000 pa. It is fitted out with solar panels, a low-energy kitchen and recycled furniture.
It includes a produce exchange table where visitors can bring in home-grown fruit and vegetables to sell to the café at wholesale prices.
Eden has been awarded a £160,000 grant from Cornwall Council from the Eco-communities Programme of Development to support the fit-out of the café and an events programme aimed at attracting more people to shop in the town centre.
Caroline Digby, Eden’s sustainability director, said: “This is an exciting moment for us – it’s the first time we’ve had an Eden base outside our home in Bodelva, and it’s great to be able to link up Eden with our nearest major shopping centre.”
“We hope the Eden Project Café will help draw people into St Austell town centre and play a role in its regeneration. It will be a place for people in St Austell and the wider Clay area to come together over a coffee, showcase their projects and initiatives, find out about sustainable living and take part in some exciting Eden activities for all the family, such as den-building or story-telling.”
“We believe passionately in the future of St Austell and would like to play a part in its development in the coming years.”
Reco Properties and CBRE advised White River Developments; the Eden Project was unrepresented.
annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com
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