A community cafe in Avening is set to expand thanks to a grant from Cotswold District Council.

The cafe has only been open for eight months, but already it’s a huge success attracting around 60 people each week.

It hopes to build community and particularly to mitigate social isolation among more vulnerable groups.

Priding itself on offering great tea and coffee, a fantastic selection of homemade cakes and pleasant environment where villagers can meet and socialise, the aim of the café is to offer a focal point for everyone who lives or works in Avening, Nags Head and Cherington.

It is hoped the community activity support grant will allow the café to expand further, offer even more services to the local community and reach new groups who are not able to attend the café on Tuesday mornings.

Cotswold District Council Cllr Richard Morgan (Grumbolds Ash with Avening Ward) supported the grant application as part of his ward funding allocation.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted the community café is receiving this grant and I was very happy to allocate some of my ward funding to this fantastic initiative.

"The village no longer has any shops, the village hall is used by the primary school and the two local pubs do not open during the day from Monday to Friday.

"There is nowhere for villagers to go to meet up and socialise.

"In the eight months since the cafe opened it has started to fill this a gap, and it’s now an invaluable asset for the village and an important vehicle to reducing social isolation in the area.”

Mrs Jennie South, chair of the Avening Community Café project has welcome the grant.

“I am delighted with the success of the café so far, but as people talk and get to know each other better and share their concerns, other gaps and ‘needs’ are becoming apparent," Jennie said.

"We have identified more groups of people who are at risk of becoming isolated and lonely who need this service.

"In particular we have been approached by vulnerable adults and people with mobility issues asking us to expand our service.

"We will be using this grant support to do just that!”

Treasurer of the project Mrs Clare Bebbington added: “This grant support will help us offer pop up cafes, and we can now move forward with plans to offer ‘Quiet Cafés’ with appropriate entertainment for older people and those with dementia who come to the regular café but find the noise of chatter a bit much to cope with.

"We can also start to offer more for people with children in the village, cinema club collaborations and more teenage takeovers.”

For more information about Avening Community Café, go to

www.facebook.com/aveningcafe/