St Catherine's extended Mill Cafe to serve more customers after expansion

St Catherine’s Hospice has completed the extension of its popular Mill Café and Community Hub, paving the way for it to serve more people and cater for more outside events.

The development, which increases the café’s kitchen space, is designed to help meet the increasing demand from local people, businesses, and community groups, as well as supporting the growth of The Mill’s developing outside catering service.

Designed by architecture, planning and building surveying practice Cassidy + Ashton, the 76 sq m single storey extension has been planned so the new structure sits subtly within the hospice grounds and is hidden from the front of The Mill.

Since opening in 2014, The Mill Café has become a thriving community hub, with freshly prepared food and a lively programme of events, including live music, business breakfasts and social groups.

The expanded kitchen means the café’s outside catering arm, The Mill Outside, can expand and meet its full potential. As a social enterprise, every penny raised by the café supports hospice care for people across Central Lancashire at the hospice and in their own homes.

The new facilities provide The Mill team with the space and equipment to prepare high quality menus at scale for corporate meetings, community events, celebrations, charity functions, remembrance gatherings, and more. The enhanced offer will also help grow a reliable new income line, directly supporting specialist care for local families.

Michael Brand, executive chef at The Mill said: “This new kitchen is a game-changer for us. It gives us the space and equipment to run both the café and a full outside catering service side-by-side.

“We can now deliver high quality food for businesses and members of the community. It’s a huge boost for our team and, importantly, it helps bring in more income to support the hospice’s care.”

Cassidy + Ashton has supported St Catherine’s for almost two decades, including leading the original conversion of the barn into The Mill Café, and is also currently developing a new drive-in donation centre to make it easier for supporters to donate items for resale.

Director Alban Cassidy has also raised nearly £10,000 for the hospice through the Great North Run.

Alistair Baines, Chairman at Cassidy + Ashton, said: “We’ve seen first-hand how successful The Mill has become. This kitchen extension will help the café to continue to bring the community together and provides the hospice with an even stronger outside catering offer, helping to generate essential income.”

St Catherine’s Hospice, which opened its doors in 1985, is situated in Lostock Hall and cares for patients and families across Chorley, Preston and South Ribble who are affected by life-shortening conditions like cancer, motor neurone disease and heart failure.

In addition to care provided at its in-patient unit, St Catherine’s also helps patients who wish to be able to stay at home.