A 1930s toilet block in Newport has been transformed into a modern café and is up for lease. The old toilets in Maindee at Maindee Triangle between Chepstow Road and Livingston Place were unused for years and have been restored as a café with the help of architects KHBT.
Maindee Unlimited, the charity behind the project, won approval in March to install a retractable awning on the side of the building to allow for additional seating at the growing shopping hub in the area. The eye-catching café - available for a six-month lease - now features a patio with the awning, new green space at the Triangle surrounding the café, a storeroom, a play stage and a servery area.
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The charity was established in 2014 with the aim of “transforming Maindee into a sustainable community with a strong local identity”. Maindee Triangle isn’t the only toilet block to be turned into something imaginative in Newport, or even Wales. You can see the brilliant transformation of former toilet blocks across Wales here.
Charity trustee John Hallam said he hopes the café will be “a welcoming and inclusive space in our multicultural and diverse community”. “Here in Maindee, we have strong ambitions to become a much more sustainable community,” he added.
“We also support our local businesses and are supporting the growth of more local circular economies. We see the cafe and the wider Maindee Triangle community garden as an intrinsic part of these wider aspirations.” You can sign up to our Newport newsletter here.
According to Maindee Unlimited the spot is the perfect place for a summer pop-up. The project has been the charity’s second venture following its taking over of Maindee library.
