A COMMUNITY cafe in Minehead is reopening after a fire earlier this month forced the closure of organisations which use the Old Hospital, in The Avenue.

Cafe Connect will be open from 11 am to 4 pm today (Friday).

Minehead deputy mayor Cllr Toni Bloomfield said: “We had a knight in shining armour electrician come and sign-off that all electrics in our area are safe, so we can reopen.”

The move was a welcome boost for Gateway Events, which uses it as a community hub and recently launched an appeal to raise funds to buy the property after it was put up for sale by owner Bill Howard for £800,000.

The fire earlier this month was caused when heavy rain leaked into the property and caused an electrical fault.It was quickly dealt with by Minehead firefighters but the condition of the electrics caused sufficient concern that the building could not be reopened until improvement work was carried out.

Cllr Bloomfield said more community support than ever would now be needed to help the voluntary group recover and move forward.