A NEWLY relaunched café and delicatessen promises to be an accessible, community-driven food, arts and enterprise space in the heart of Newton Abbot.

A popular haunt for residents and visitors alike, the Plot Deli has always been a community-minded business, but a recent rebrand has made it more official.

Henceforth the Plot Deli shall be known as the Plot Hub, in a move that owner Kris Hanson hopes will put ‘a greater focus on the community aspect of what we do.’

The Plot Hub promises to be a space that supports local entrepreneurs, food businesses and creatives.

‘We have changed the model to a Community Interest Company (CIC), whereas before I was putting all the profits back into the business’ Kris said.

‘Now, we can apply for grants and get a bit more support for the projects that we offer’ he added.

Kris has lots planned for the Plot Hub, not least a permanent presence for local food-bank charity, Teignbridge Homeless Action Today (THAT), of which Kris is Chairman.

In addition to giving the food-bank a presence in the town centre, Kris plans to expand his business’ ‘incubator-style’ support for up and coming entrepreneurs.

He will do this by creating a dedicated program that celebrates innovation, collaboration, and market access; it will include a ‘pop-up space’ for food start-ups to test their products in a real-world retail and café setting.

‘It is more open, the food and the drink is more accessible, we are trying to make everything more accessible to everybody’ Kris said, speaking of the rebrand.

‘I really want to focus on community initiatives, getting more artists in and giving people a platform to show off what they can do.

‘It is very much like what we do with the Sunday markets.

‘We have always been up for collaborating and trying to get others involved, and I think that is the only way to survive now - times are hard for businesses’ Kris added.

The idea of a ‘hub’ had been bandied about for a while, but it wasn't until Union Street closed for gas works that Kris had the time to make it a reality.

‘We had to shut and it gave me enough time to sit down and think about whether I have time to do this, because before I was just so busy’ Kris said.

The Plot Hub will offer local community groups the use of its space; it will also support the local, grass-roots music scene with its ‘Saturday Sessions’.

‘People can rent our space for free, there is no charge - they can put on workshops, classes or whatever they want to do’ Kris said.

‘We are going to have a lot more art exhibitions too’ Kris added.