Community hub with shop, hot desks and crafts opens

A new community hub opened on Thursday

A visitor centre has opened a hub which includes a craft area, a pre-loved shop and an office with hot desks, in the hopes of becoming self-funding.

Porlock Information Centre has teamed up with the village's Miles Tea and Coffee shop to create a community hub, which opened on Thursday.

In the next few months, the hub will also include a museum, community cafe and hostel accomodation.

Deborah Stanyon, manager at the centre, said: "It was a very emotional day. To me this is community. We got to this point because of community effort."

John Halls said Porlock needed a centre like this one

Ms Stanyon said they came up with the idea because they had a finite amount of money and it was dwindling.

"We're very cash-low conscious," she added. "We knew we had to be very creative. We approached Miles and cheekily asked for a room to rent.

"The planets absolutely aligned and Miles had a shared vision."

Miles Tea and Coffee started in 1888. In 1961, Derek Miles moved to Porlock and began packaging up blends of tea in his front room at The Anchorage, ready to sell for himself.

Eventually, he opened the coffee shop in the village.

John Halls, operations director and co-owner of Miles coffee shop, said the centre would be "great" for Porlock.

"I think it's just what Porlock needs, it needs a bit of a focal point," he said.

"We've been in this building for 40 years. It's phenomenal how long we've been here.

"It's breathing life back into the facility."