Melbourn Community Hub has used the November lockdown to improve its safety measures and continue to protect customers.

During the trading period before lockdown on November 5, the hub enforced COVID-19 preventative measures which were met with a positive response from the community.

When lockdown was imposed, hub management saw an opportunity to expand the existing measures to ensure the community feels even safer once they are able to reopen.

An anti-microbial spray with a long-lasting action has been administered on all public areas of the building, which gives any treated surfaces such as door handles and furniture the ability to ‘self-sanitise’ for at least a month.

John Travis, chair of the management team, said: “We would like to stress that we are not compromising on our normal scrupulous cleaning routines, which will continue as normal.

“We want to offer our many dedicated customers even more confidence that our venue is the safest of destinations.”

During the first lockdown in March, the hub was turned into a call and operations centre for the Melbourn Community Coronavirus Response team, to help more than 500 residents who were self-isolating by delivering food and collecting prescriptions – as well as providing a food bank and weekly cooked food which was supplied to targeted individuals and families.

When the hub reopened in July, it returned to its usual role as a community centre for people in Melbourn and the surrounding villages.

Following a busy month of trading at the hub’s café during August, the trustees of the hub decided to continue discounts on food and drink into September to thank the community for their continued support.

Now reopening after the second lockdown, the hub will be extending a 25 per cent reduction off its breakfast menu until Christmas, to encourage customers to return.

They will also be returning to a full menu of hot and cold food and beverages, as well as cakes and barista coffee, to either eat in or take away between 10am to 4pm from Monday to Saturday.

If anyone is interested in joining the hub’s volunteer team, they can get in touch by calling 01763 263303. Full training is given.