Reopening date and new look as the NAAFI take over Lancaster cafe which offers refuge to forces veterans

The First Light Trust has confirmed to The Lancaster Guardian they will be working with the NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) at the Lancaster Café Hub on Market Street.

James Cooke, operational coordinator for the Trust, said: “The NAAFI will be running the commercial element of the café and are in the process of a refit and rebranding. We are expecting this to be completed by mid-May.

“First Light Trust will still be working from the hub and offering the same service to the veteran community and will continue to have support staff on site to meet with veterans and run activities. So in essence, nothing will change apart from the way it looks on the outside.

“This has been communicated to all those who might be impacted by this temporary closure,” he declared.

“Its regrettable closure of the café has impacted some of our activities in the last few weeks, but we are still open for any veterans that need support.

“We can be contacted on our usual phone and email channels until a point the hub is back open.

“We are looking forward to this new joint venture and, with NAAFI operating the café, we will be focussing solely on the care and support of the veteran community moving forward.”

He added: “The NAAFI café will be run by the same staff that have moved over from the Trust so there will be continuity for our regular customers and clients.

“Once NAAFI can confirm exactly when they will be reopening, we will be able to offer more information on how things will look moving forward.

“And they will have their own messages I am sure they will want to communicate themselves.”

A notice in the window of the premises read: "First Light Trust has established a chain of cafes in key towns throughout the UK (Hereford, Gosport, Hawick and soon Falkirk and London) that also serve as hubs for a wide range of activities and provide a local community for all emergency services and forces veterans.

“First Light Trust also supports those particularly in need with additional services: this could be simply company and someone to talk to, rehabilitation therapies or practical assistance with often critical issues of housing and finances.

“The involvement of NAFFI, an organisation with the resources and mission to give back to service personnel who have been catering to the needs of the Armed Forces since 1920, is a fitting move and recognition of the impact the First Light café-hub approach to veteran care has achieved.

“This is particularly appropriate as NAAFI, as part of the Ministry of Defence is embarking on a UK-wide coffee shop opening programme.

“First Light Trust will continue to operate in the Scarborough (Lancaster) area concentrating wholly on the support and rehabilitation of those veterans already engaged with First Light Trust and will work closely with NAAFI to ensure the NAAFI coffee shop can continue to be the location for those that need First Light Trust's vital service.”