On 7 November 2022 we opened our Community Larder to help people to make ends meet and in recognition of the cost-of-living crisis that’s affecting so many people throughout the UK and building on the popularity of our free lunches for children over half term.

A Community Larder is a resource that stocks donated food to afford people a little more dignity in choosing what they want to eat. There are no terms, no sign ups, no qualifying factors, operating and thriving on the kindness of neighbours and visitors to help stock the shelves. It’s open and available to everyone and anyone, simply take what you need, or give what you can.

In a recent study by The Bevan Foundation, it was reported that families are struggling to make ends meet – with more than one in eight Welsh households (13%) either sometimes or often struggling to afford everyday items.

Our Community Larder is a small way to help supplement what can’t be afforded, rather than replacing what can be afforded; and as such we’ll be supporting the Community Larder with regular donations. We encourage those in our community who can afford to, to support our new initiative with donations of in-date non-perishable food. The Community Larder is not staffed but will be managed by our friendly front of house team, who have been spearheading this initiative.

Pay It Forward

You can now make an additional £3 donation to your order and we’ll use it to stock our Community Larder.

This means we can keep our shelves full of free food and those who need it most can help themselves with no questions asked.

Let our staff know at checkout and they’ll add £3 to your bill, or you can now pay the £3 forward, online, via the link below.

Find out more and how to donate online here.

Chelsea Davies, Head of Visitor Services said: “I think it’s so important to show that we’re part of, and here for, our local community. We know this winter will be particularly hard for a lot of people, so if we can make things that little bit easier, then it’s important that we do.”

Hannah Firth, Co-Director at Chapter said, “During lockdown our local community showed incredible generosity in helping to raise funds to save us from permanent closure. Now that we’re able to earn income through our ticket and Caffi Bar sales, we feel that it’s more important than ever to give back. The Community Larder offers a facility for Chapter, and other local business and individuals, to donate so that anyone who’s struggling can take some food, whenever they need it, with no questions asked. It’s one of several initiatives we’ve put in place to support our community; other free offers include family film screenings every Saturday, creative workshops for children, and free packed lunches in the holidays. Our role as a local hub is as important to us as our world-class artistic programme and we’ll continue to explore ways we can support our community through these harsh financial times.”