A PEEBLES café which closed down due to coronavirus restrictions will reopen after issues with the location were resolved.

Residents of the town had filed a petition to get the Flowerpot Café, of the Food Foundation, back up and running.

But during a meeting of the audit and scrutiny committee last week, Tweeddale East councillor Stuart Bell announced that the matter had been settled.

Reading aloud a letter from Tom Hardy, chairman of the Food Foundation, Mr Bell said: “Regarding the petition about the Flowerpot Café, I’m pleased to say the issue has been resolved. We received the go-ahead to reopen the café in October.

“While I’m delighted with the news, it was disappointing that it took five to six months to resolve the issue surrounding the go-ahead for this.”

After opening in July last year, the outdoor eatery closed its doors during the second national lockdown, resulting in redundancies.

The charity had been operating in areas of the Victoria Park Centre which is used to provide a day service for people with learning disabilities, as well as housing the Care at Home office base for the Peebles Homecare provision.

When the Food Foundation requested to reopen the facility from mid-April, Scottish Borders Council refused due to the need for “enhanced cleaning protocols” and social distancing with the other services at the site.

But the café will now reopen in “March or April” next year, with the position of the facility changing to the front of the building, according to Mr Hardy’s letter.

His letter added that the charity – that provides training for people with learning difficulties – is “working hard behind the scenes to bring our operation back to the previous level”.

The foundation’s mini market on Kingsmeadows Road, which offers food to takeaway, will be open until 2pm on Thursday (December 23), before closing until 10.30am on Wednesday, January 5.