Community: The Open Door

The Open Door cafe, Uphall

By 11:30 most weekday mornings there is a lively buzz of conversation going on in the Open Door café.

People have come in with their friends and family, or met their friends there. Others have come in alone and are engaged in debate with someone at the next table, or are engrossed in their daily paper, just enjoying the general atmosphere. Coffees and home made scones have been served and lunch orders of bacon rolls or freshly made toasties are underway in the kitchen area. This is a typical day in the Open Door.

A local charity, the BASICS Trust, established the café more than twenty years ago, when premises on East Main Street in Uphall became available to them, the same premises they are in today. Their aim has always been to offer a warm and friendly welcome to the local residents of Uphall and Broxburn, a place to socialise, and a listening ear to someone in need of it. The door is open to anyone and everyone, and there is the hope that it makes a positive difference to the quality of life for individuals locally, and a positive contribution to the local community.

The operation is managed and staffed by a team of volunteers, currently fifteen people, who give their time and energy to the successful running of the café. Any profits are reinvested in the local community by supporting youth work organisation, the BUSY Project. See website www.thebusyproject.org.uk for more information on this.

In common with many businesses, it has been a difficult year and a half for the Open Door and its customers, some of whom have desperately missed their ‘home from home’ but the forced closure provided the opportunity for a refurbishment and a rethink “What has not of the way some things are done. The volunteers are delighted to changed is the be open again, with a new table layout, some upgraded cleaning warm welcome, and sanitising measures in place and a new table service regime. the low prices What has not changed is the warm welcome, the low prices and and the high the high quality of home baking, confirmed by customers’ positive quality of home feedback.

The Open Door also carries a baking” good stock of greetings cards, with a Christian focus, and at Christmas time, a great selection of Christmas cards. A jigsaw exchange is now operating with a wide selection of second-hand puzzles to buy, or you can bring one you have already completed, and swap it for another. If you have not yet visited, why not pop in and see for yourself?

This article was contributed by Susanne Wilson, a trustee of the BASICS Trust, Scottish charity number SC026791. The Open Door is at 28 East Main Street, Uphall, and is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 – 1:00.