Hospital set to get new Costa Coffee

A multi-million pound coffee chain is set to open its doors at Sandwell Hospital within days - after a 40-year-old volunteer-run cafe closed its doors.

Costa Coffee will open on May 24, replacing the WRVS coffee bar that been a feature of the site for decades.

Hundreds of people had signed a petition in a last-ditch attempt to save the cafe from closure.

It was run by dozens of people in their free time.

But the campaign failed, and the cafe closed its doors on Friday.

The store shut with little fanfare and it is now being transformed into a Costa Coffee chain store.

It had been expected the Costa would open in June. A branch of the popular chain is already in operation at the All Saints Way hospital.

The WRVS coffee shop had been running in the outpatients department of the West Bromwich hospital for years, catering for patients, staff and visitors.

Around 30 women gave up their time in two-and-a-half hour shifts to run it. Volunteers said they were told of the shock news just months before it closed.

Jenny Davis, aged 80, who lives in Canterbury Road, Stone Cross volunteered at the coffee shop for 16 years.

The mother-of-five, who has 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, added: "Everybody has been coming up saying it is a shame and they will boycott the new one.

"It is going to be greatly missed. I loved my time volunteering at the coffee shop and made many friends."

Over the years the WRVS - formally known as the Women's Royal Voluntary Service - has raised thousands of pounds for new equipment at the hospital.

In 2001 the group donated more than £20,000, £6,000 of which went towards buying new speech therapy equipment, while the year before they raised £14,000, with the money being spent on a range of equipment including surgical beds and wheelchairs.

In 1993, £8,000 was spent on a new bed, eight new wheelchairs and new curtains.

And in 1991, £800 was raised to buy four wheelchairs for the occupational therapy unit to be used by people who had suffered amputations.

Hospital spokeswoman Bridgette Honeygan said Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust was in the process of reviewing its catering outlets.

The retail shop at the hospital will continue to be managed by the WRVS.