Leeds law firm Blacks Solicitors has overseen and helped coordinate the new lease of Toast Love Coffee, a community café in Harehills.
The café, which is run by 40 volunteers, started in 2014 as a pop-up based at the CATCH Leeds Youth Centre in Harehills. After four years of continued success and growing popularity, the café has relocated to a three-story permanent location on Harehills Road.
Part of The Real Junk Food Project, the community café creates its menu using food that would have been destined for landfill. Customers are asked to ‘pay as you feel’, which removes any financial barriers.
Anna Dyson, managing director at Toast Love Coffee, said: “I’m so excited to open the doors of the café at our brand new venue, which is much bigger than the pop-up. Since its conception Toast Love Coffee has built up a loyal and dedicated customer and volunteer-base, who really believe in what we do. The move is very much a result of this growing support network and it’s down to them that we’ve been able to consider it.”
“This new space gives us the opportunity to broaden our offering to the local community in ways that will benefit them. This now includes some fantastic event spaces which people can use how they please including English language classes, yoga sessions, NCT groups, and craft sessions.”
The commercial property team at Blacks worked closely with Dyson to facilitate the lease on the property, which was a former Leeds Building Society branch, and gathered and coordinated a network of experts from its client base to collaboratively oversee the transition.
These experts included Broadley Construction, which supplied the flooring; the Strategic Team Group, which supplied building materials; Brownridge Transport, which supplied the office furniture; and Crowther Turnball Booth Surveyors and Dresler Smith, which advised on the location and supported the negotiation.
Claudia Willard, a commercial property solicitor at Blacks, said: “It was a pleasure to play our part in the continued growth of this project and in turn enable communities to continue to come together by using this new permanent space.”
“This deal was particularly challenging with tight timescales to work towards in order to meet the December opening date. We wish Anna the best of luck with the project and look forward to popping in for a cuppa and some toast!”
Dyson continued: “The move has been a huge project and I’m so thankful for the support I’ve had to make the process as smooth and efficient as possible. As well as the commercial property team at Blacks who facilitated the lease, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone involved as this really was a collaborative team effort.”
Pictured, from left to right: Jason Green, Paul Crabtree, Claudia Willard, Anna Dyson, Glen Turnbull, Arthur Brownridge and Chris Hiles
