An Inverness city centre cafe has reopened after flooding issues shut its doors for three months.
Cafe Artysans on Strothers Lane is open again after a major refurbishment.
The social enterprise was forced to close in December due to flooding in the building above.
The cafe has also introduced its own coffee blend and a takeaway will open in the coming weeks.
The end of a difficult period at Cafe Artysans, says manager
After one of the chefs noticed a small leak through the ceiling, they decided to phone manager Nicola McRobert.
She knew a bucket wouldn’t be enough and decided to head along to check out the damage for herself.
Nicola said: “By the time I’d arrived, the whole roof was coming through – the water was absolutely endless.
“We thought we would probably have to close for a week or two. But it has taken a bit longer than that.
“It has been difficult since it was over the Christmas period, and January and February went quickly.”
Cafe Artysans, owned and operated by Calman Trust, employs young people in order to develop skills needed to manage independent living or employment.
Nicola said it has been challenging for staff who have had a “huge part of their routine ripped up”.
She added: “This job makes up a lot of their lives – it gives them a reason to leave the house.”
“It was upsetting for a lot of the young people, but we managed to get them across to Inverness Justice Centre, where we worked from and did manage some cooking.
“Reopening will present us with new challenges now as things are a little different to before, so we will need to refresh our staff training and get everyone up to full speed.”
Full refurbishment to help in delivering new project
Nicola believes the refurbishment of Cafe Artysans will help ahead of its new takeaway launching.
She said: “We looked at the project and pretty much realised what the place needed was a full refurbishment due to the extent of the damage.
“The builders were absolutely fabulous and, despite a few hiccups in terms of getting materials, everything has now come together brilliantly.
“It has been lovely to receive encouraging messages from customers throughout the closure.
“We are thrilled to welcome them back and look forward to seeing them all again.
“Looking forward, we also have the new takeaway coming so we have a lot of exciting plans which we can’t wait to put into place.”
The takeaway is one of two new developments which the business says will see it reach more customers.
The other new initiative, Club Artysans, launches this week.
It is aimed at helping young people who are unsure of what the future may hold.
They will get a meal and the chance to try different art forms – including tile design, poetry and painting.
Conversation