Harry’s Courtyard Café will provide healthy products in a social setting at a sports facility in Edinburgh

A community café with a focus on providing ethical products opened its doors this week in the capital.

Beer for Good CIC, the UK’s first social enterprise bar group, has joined forces with Edinburgh Leisure’s Craiglockhart Tennis Centre to open Harry’s Courtyard Café.

The café aims to provide healthy food in a social setting, with produce secured from a range of social enterprises.

Kirsty Stobie, manager at Craiglockhart Tennis Centre, said: “With very few other places in the area where people can go to meet for a coffee and a snack, we hope the new Harry’s Courtyard Café will become a hub of the community, a place where people can go to meet, enjoy some healthy refreshments, after using the tennis, squash, gym and fitness facilities at Craiglockhart.”

The cafe is Beer for Good’s second venture with Edinburgh Leisure, having opened Harry’s Café at Drumbrae in October 2016.

The food at the café is prepared by Beer for Good CIC’s central kitchen, which is used to give vocational training to youngsters. Staff at the café will be entered into a training programme with access to certified courses spanning both hospitality and non-hospitality specific professional skills.

Staff at the company also use other social enterprises such as Downs Syndrome Scotland, School of Hard Knocks and the Jet Programme, and opt for ethical and sustainable products wherever they can.

Beer for Good director Chris Thewlis said: “This venture will hopefully offer not only a great new offering for Craiglockhart Leisure Centre but will also help us to provide more exciting opportunities for people from the local community to benefit from our social aims and objectives.”