Union Streat Café is now open!

CU London (Dagenham) Campus over the past 12 months.

This opportunity is more than just a catering unit. It’s about creating an environment, an event space, and an opportunity for the Students’ Union to directly support the cost of living crisis for students and the wider community.

Coventry University Students’ Union’s new café, which operates from a container located in Starley Gardens (Cox St), is open.

This venture is in collaboration with NUS and while being new to Coventry since February, it’s been built on the success of the same partnership which has been operating Union Streat Kitchen at the

Addressing the COL impact is one of the three strategic pillars. We’re providing a range of products costing £1 or less, including freshly baked (and large) sausage rolls, a range of teas and other hot food. There will be regular offers for students, staff and the community too.

Another pillar behind this new venture is authentic collaboration with local businesses (SMEs). The first example of this in action is a new partnership with Wicked Cookies which is operating a weekly pop-up on Tuesdays, returning to Coventry after previously having a stall located at the station. If your business would be interested in potentially operating this type of complimentary pop-up with our café, please email commercial.su@coventry.ac.uk as we are looking to offer a variety of events.

The final pillar is being able to use our business model to provide suitably priced hospitality. This will provide a benefit internally for the Students’ Union where catering has had to be sourced externally for events which ultimately costs students through the cost of tickets. Having this as a provision is therefore a service we can offer for external partners as well.

As already mentioned we are curated and staffed by students, primarily for our students but we are open to the public too. We hope to see you join us as the weather improves in the beautiful surroundings of Starley Gardens.

The Exotic nut bar range won its first major order from the 132-strong Grape Tree health chain and has been followed by Aytac, a specialist Turkish, Arab, Mediterranean and Caribbean food cash and carry firm which distributes to more than 1,500 shops in the UK.

Faron Trading, one of Holland’s major food distributors, became the first mainland Europe firm to place an order for Exotic bars and a representative has now been appointed for the brand in Denmark.

Stratford-on-Avon Golf Club is the first of a number of sports clubs and leisure centres in the UK to order the nut bars.

While Hassan’s head office staff concentrate on wholesale business, the company has now launched a website where small retailers, clubs and leisure centres can order direct online at www.uknuts.co.uk

He said: “We need agents in every region of the country because, although the interest in the brand is of course wonderful, my small head office staff just can’t keep up.

“Once people taste the quality of our product they are won over. Healthy snack bars don’t have to be dull and boring and ours are packed with goodness and flavour.”

Hassan’s family can trace its connections with nuts back hundreds of years to the fertile plains of Persia, now modern-day Iran. On his 500-acre farm in Abadeh, Iran, Hassan has planted 100,000 pistachio trees.

Hassan’s family opened a food factory in Iran in 1956 to process raisons. Now there are seven production sites which process and pack nuts, dried fruits, herbal tea and honey.

He moved to the UK in 1960 to study business at the University of Westminster and liked Britain so much he decided to stay. His international business currently employs three people in Stratford-Upon-Avon and 20 farm workers in Iran.

The Shakespeare Hospice delighted to unveil new courtyard at site in Shottery

The courtyard has undergone some significant renovation work since January this year and now includes a variety of new plants, as well as sensory areas and water features. The space is ideal for visitors to enjoy some peace and quiet with loved ones, or to have a quiet chat with the hospice’s clinicians.

The idea of the sensory garden was introduced by Sir Peter Rigby, Executive Chairman of Rigby Group (RG) Plc and Honorary Patron of The Shakespeare Hospice, designed in conjunction with Taylor Landscape & Design, and has been funded by The Rigby Foundation.

Tracey Sheridan, CEO of The Shakespeare Hospice, said: “As the hospice continues to welcome more visitors, it was agreed that our courtyard was long overdue for some care and attention. The vastly improved courtyard will, once again, provide a much-needed space for quiet reflection for patients, their loved ones, and carers, just in time for the summer.

“We are delighted with the new look and are very grateful to Taylor Landscape & Design, not only for their hard work since the start of the year, but for their perseverance with the changing weather. We are also incredibly grateful to our Patron, Sir Peter Rigby, for enabling this project.”