Sanctus Café

The Café is designed as a gateway to build trust and enable individuals to have access to our Support Hub.

Located on the ground floor of our building, is our Sanctus Café which is a safe and warm environment where homeless and vulnerable individuals feel comfortable to come, spend the day and request help. We welcome anyone in the community who had fallen on hard times and is in need of food and support.

The Café team is made up of 4 members of staff as well as a large number of volunteers who are friendly faces and make the Sanctus Café a welcoming environment and an enjoyable place to be.

We are always there for those who need us, meaning we are well-placed to respond to the needs of those whom we support. Our work closely ties into Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs. Through our Café, we provide people with food, clothes and essential items. This is then a gateway to access the wider support services offered by Sanctus Hub where we work in conjunction with other support services both statutory and voluntary to help secure accommodation, good health and employment opportunities.

Service users are confident to tell the Sanctus staff what they really need, and what they are feeling. Sanctus’ independence means they can adapt to the individual needs of the service users and not be constrained by targets or single areas of focus. The team work with people at their hardest times and over time build trust and the confidence to take the next step. This leads to them living a better life, where they have support networks, and self-esteem, and they can achieve so much more.

We provide a wide range of services in our Café, all for free, including: 

  • Daily freshly prepared, hot nutritious meals (we serve between 60 – 80 meals each day with 16,931 meals served in 2023),

  • Unlimited hot and cold drinks 

  • Breakfast including toast, cereal and fruit

  • Sandwiches, cakes and pastries

  • Items from our food bank to takeaway

  • Special meals such as Christmas dinners

In addition to our food provision, this space also offers the following: 

  • Triage service for our clients into our Support Hub to make sure that anyone in a state of crisis or emergency is seen quickly and that everyone in need receives an appointment to discuss their issues with a member of the Hub. 

  • Access to phones and computers, which can be used for free. This is an important service as it enables our clients to use the internet as well as call and email other services and loved ones. 

  • Essential items including clothes, tents, sleeping bags, toiletries, and other household items.

  • Extracurricular activities include board and card games as well as instruments and arts and crafts.

  • We also have external providers visit us to run a range of health and wellbeing services.

  • Assist service users to move into properies once accomodation has been sourced..