A new cafe is set to open, filling the vacant space left after a popular cafe closed earlier this year.

In January, it was announced that Dunwood Park Cafe in Dunwood Park, Shaw, would shut down in July due to the impact of the pandemic, however, it closed several months early in March.

Now, the new occupiers of the cafe have been confirmed.

The Woodlands at The Willows is setting up a second location not far from its current one on Fieldway, Rochdale.

The cafe is based at The Willows Dementia Hub and serves the people who stay there, however, the new cafe in Shaw will be a more general cafe open to all people.

Gail Whitehead, chief officer at GP Care Services, which operates the dementia hub and the cafe, said: "We're really excited for the opportunity and to work with the community.

Although an opening date has yet to be set, Ms Whitehead said the expectation is for the cafe to open at some point in October of this year.

She explained that a refurbishment of the cafe would be carried out as they were looking to upgrade the kitchen facility.

Ms Whitehead said residents could expect a general community cafe which would be dog-friendly. 

She added that they would be hoping to involve local schools to help students get work experience, as they already do with the cafe at The Willows.

The Dunwood Park Cafe had been operated by Pure Innovations, a Stockport-based charity that supports people with disabilities, since 2019.

The cafe employed people with disabilities, however, the impact Covid had on its business and its employees meant it was forced to shut.

This was in part due to the fact that the disabled employees had not been attracted to working in the cafe.

Although it was originally scheduled to shut in July, its closure was forced early in late March as staff had already found new jobs.

Ms Whitehead said "a lot of people were upset" when the cafe announced it was shutting down.

She added: "It's quite a well-loved community place and that's what attracted us to it."

There is expected to be a grand opening of the newly refurbished cafe that will involve community members.