A new community café has launched in the railway village to help alleviate pressure on foodbanks.

The Swindon Street Reps held their first free café at the Central Community Centre last Monday.

The café will meet every week between 10am and 12noon and provide information about local services, offer refreshments and allow individuals to take away free food if needed.

Lee Concadoro, one of the new Railway Village Street Reps said: “It’s very important to have things like this in the community.”

Building on the success of their community café in Penhill which meets every Tuesday, the Street Reps plan to eventually host a free café every day of the week in different areas of Swindon, where anyone can come to collect food.

“Food banks have a limited number of times you can use them in a year,” said Di Pithers, one of the Penhill Street Reps.

“The hope is that should you require help on a working day somewhere in Swindon, there will aways be a free café where you can get donated food stuffs,” Di added.

The café is funded by the council, with support from Swindon Night Shelter who provide the free food.

Lee added: “It’s about building the community as times get harder, we need more things like this for local people.

“Often people are stuck at home with noone to talk to, but something like this allows the community to come together, have a chat and get any help and support when needed.”

Information about a range of local services including financial advice and home repair services will be available each week, and the café will also host community events and celebrations throughout the year.

“We want this to be a place where if someone has a problem, then they can come here to get help and information,” said Lee.

The Street Reps currently has plans to expand into the Stratton Community Centre as their next site once the railway village café is up and running.

“There really is a need for this is Swindon,” added Lee.

“We have queues of people outside our foodbanks. This is a place that can help alleviate this.”

Railway Village Street Rep Tristan Strange added: “Services like this are becoming more and more essential to people as things get worse. And so much food is going to waste that can no longer be sold in supermarkets.

“We want this to be a hub where the community can find out what’s going on and support each other.”