It is creating 14 new jobs and with vending kiosks, hot drinks and food will be available 24 hours a day
A ribbon cutting at the opening of the new Costa Coffee outlet.(Image: NLAG)
A new Costa Coffee outlet has opened at Grimsby’s hospital. The first customers have been welcomed to the new Costa in Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby, on Tuesday, September 9.
The café is located at the main entrance, directly outside the hospital’s busy A&E department. Counter service will be open from 7am to 10pm every day, but vending kiosks will provide patients, visitors and staff with 24-hour access to hot drinks and food.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held to mark its opening. Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust’s (NLAG) chair, Sean Lyons, joined Andy Jones, managing director of One Retail, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, to open the store.
Mr Lyons said: “We know that no one wants to come into hospital but it’s important to us that if you do, we make that experience as easy and comfortable as possible. Opening this new Costa outlet will help to ensure that whatever time you need to come to hospital – day or night – you have access to good quality food and drink.
“I believe this will be a fantastic addition to our existing facilities,” he said, noting the hospital already has two other cafes, a main restaurant, and an on-site convenience store. “Another benefit of opening this new outlet is that it has also created 14 additional jobs within the Grimsby community and I want to welcome the new members of our team – I’ve no doubt that they’ll be kept very busy.”
From l to r: One Retail’s Andy Jones, Tom Myers – NHS Humber Health Partnership group director of estates, NLAG chair Sean Lyons, and Olly Young, business development director at One Retail(Image: NLAG)
Mr Jones said it was great to work with the hospital to “bring a high street offer into the hospital for staff, visitors and patients to enjoy. The introduction of our vending kiosks will also mean the offers are available 24/7, which is really important to support the people within the hospital environment.”
The new café is just another development in the evolution of the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital estate. In January, Grimsby Live reported on future plans to create a ‘Take a Breather’ outdoor space to help people to stop smoking.
The new landscaped area would be within sight of the 1890 workhouse building part of the hospital, near the hospital’s restaurant. The estimated cost of that project is £150,000. Smoking is not permitted anywhere on the hospital’s grounds, to protect the health of patients, visitors and staff.
NLAG got awarded Great British Energy cash in the Spring too, which included £1.3m to be spent on more solar panels on the building roof to save approximately £180,000 a year in energy costs in future.
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