IT WAS the end of an era for Fishguard's Transition Café last Friday, as staff, volunteers and customers said goodbye to the café as they know it and welcomed the town's new community fridge.

Transition Café, located at the entrance to the town's Co-op store, is earmarked for demolition in phase two of Fishguard's Chimneys Link plan.

The award- winning café was set up in 2012-13. Annually it served 9000 customers with good-value homemade meals, snacks and drinks and processed 11 tonnes of surplus food.

It generates around £12,000 for the local economy every quarter and has provided volunteering, employment, work experience, and training opportunities for over 200 local people.

This summer the café, part of Transition Bro Gwaun's surplus food project, won the Refresh, European food waste solution competition with the judges commending it for its "integrated concept, inspirational qualities and concrete action delivering quantified results".

Transition Bro Gwaun's community fridge opened in the café foyer yesterday (Tuesday) and the café will keep running in a limited capacity; serving hot drinks and cakes from10am until 2pm Tuesday to Friday.

The initiative will see Fishguard hosting the first community fridge in Wales, and will mean that Transition Bro Gwaun can still help people make use of surplus food.

The community space will have a fridge and shelving area where food that would otherwise go to waste can be shared by the local community. The community fridge will initially be housed in the foyer of the Transition Café until a more permanent home can be found.

The Fishguard Community Fridge is part of an established network of successful community fridges around the UK.

"Anyone can donate, anyone can take," explained Amy Collard, Transition Bro Gwaun's new Food Saver Champion.

"Food items will be supplied by food businesses and members of the public.

To meet safety requirements the fridge has a detailed list of the types of food that can be placed in the fridge or shelving area.

"We are working with the Environmental Health officer from Pembrokeshire County council to ensure the Community Fridge will meet the appropriate food safety standards and undergo the same inspection as any registered food business.

"All food supplied to the fridge will be good and safe to eat for at least 24 hours and the fridge will be checked twice a day by trained staff and volunteers."

For more information pop into the café, visit the community fridge or Transition café Facebook pages, visit www.transitionbrogwaun.org.uk or email Amy at foodsaverchamp@gmail.com.