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Community Centre and Café

Our drop-in Community Centre provides a safe and welcoming environment where guests can relax and enjoy the free food and drink on offer along with a range of other essential support services.

Accessing this service

Community centre sessions Monday to Friday 5pm to 7pm and Sundays 4pm to 6pm (closed on Saturdays). Just drop-in, no need to pre-book for any services listed below which run throughout our sessions. Closed Christmas Day and two weeks in August, otherwise we are open all year round.
Café open on all days listed above.
Clothes store open on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Computer sessions on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Further details of our community centre drop-in services can be seen on our services poster and the complete calendar of activities.
Contact the team



    More Activities

    In 2025 the café and the
    community centre served up over...
    15,000
    meals to over...
    700
    guests including over…
    9,150
    baked potatoes, plus 2,496 tins of baked beans, reducing food and financial inequalities and offering emotional and practical support/provision to people who are rough sleeping, on low income or/and are vulnerably housed.

    How this service helps our guests

    Do you or does someone you know need support with food and practical provision? Do you or someone you know feel isolated or need a sense of community?

    If so the Gatehouse community centre is open six nights a week from Sunday to Friday. Guests who visit the community centre are welcome to stay for the variety of free food and drinks on offer and company from a broad range of volunteers, staff and other guests.

    Not sure what support you or someone you may know need? Drop in anyway as the Gatehouse can also signpost you to other services and provision.

    The community centre can be accessed via our garden area, and we also have disability access. We ask all guests to fill in a basic one-page registration form, but we do not require proof of homeless status or a local connection.

    Items in our clothes store vary from pants and socks, to t-shirts and jumpers and even the odd suit on occasion. We also have a good supply of toiletries, and on occasions items such as sleeping bags. The clothes store is offered to guests free of charge and we have a fair usage policy meaning that items are shared out equally amongst the guest population. Items in the clothes store are donated by members of the public and supporter groups (see our Donate Clothes page for details on how to donate these items). At times we can take requests from guests with specific needs. In 2024 over 6,000 items of clothing and practical provision were distributed through our clothes store including 180 health kits tailor made to specifically meet our guests' needs.

    Computers are made available for guests to use during three of our sessions, with a helping hand available to provide support and advice for the less experienced.

    On occasion we are also able to offer additional services during our sessions such as podiatrists and hairdressers. These services are only available on a less frequent basis – check our current activities schedule to see when they will be at the Gatehouse next.

    Guest testimonials

    “I wouldn't be here without the Gatehouse, doesn't really convey just how important they really have been and continue to be. I'm really not exaggerating when I say that not only has the Gatehouse fed me, clothed me and kept me warm but they have also been one of the only truly consistent forms of emotional support that I've had over the last year”
    “All of the team at the Gatehouse who I have engaged with are remarkable and all share a unique quality that is ever so hard to define unlike many other charities and organizations of the same nature, the team at the Gatehouse have treated me like an individual and as an equal and never judged me for my needs and abilities or lack thereof”