Fast food is getting a healthy makeover thanks to young people at Bedford’s Foyer.

The Foyer, which is run by bpha to provide accommodation and training to homeless young people, officially opened its new-look Limelight Café last week.

As well as offering healthy snacks and drinks, the café also serves as a training centre where four young learners at a time will work towards an NVQ Level 1 in quick service catering.

Members of the public can call into the café, in Conduit Road, between 10am and 2pm each day to sample a range of food and hot and cold drinks including freshly-prepared soup, jacket potatoes and sandwiches.

The training, which is overseen by two trainers working at the café, is being run in partnership with Bedford College.

Liz May, Foyer manager, said: “We hope that many people will come along to the Limelight Café to see what it has to offer.

“The initiative is helping young people, and not just those living at the Foyer, to develop new skills and gain a formal qualification. It is excellent experience for them, and also helps us to reach out into the wider community to improve understanding of what the Foyer is all about.”

At the same time residents at the Foyer, who are all aged between 16 and 24, are to benefit from a wider healthy eating project.

The centre has been awarded around £6,000 of funding from the Big Lottery Fund, with support from the Foyer Federation, to run a year-long project to develop residents’ cookery skills and awareness of nutrition and healthy lifestyles.

Anyone wanting to find out more about the Foyer can call into the café, or visit the forthcoming annual health fair on Friday, February 22. The event, which runs from 11am to 3pm, will include information on a range of health issues.