Located in Edinburgh’s Old Town, Café 1505, part of the Surgeons Quarter campus, has become the 10th distribution point for organic fruit and vegetable bags grown at the Cyrenians Farm, based outside the city.

The initiative allows shoppers to customise their bag choosing its delivery frequency, size, and excluded items.

Aimed at reducing food waste and packaging by utilising re-useable bags, subscribers received a selection of fruit and vegetables grown at Cyrenians Farm in Kirknewton.

The Nicolson Street-based café joins a chain of other collection points across Edinburgh, Kirknewton, Ratho and Bathgate.

Sophie Bell, fundraising manager at Cyrenians, said: “We have been working with Surgeons Quarter on a number of initiatives, and we’re continually impressed by their commitment to work with like-minded enterprises.

“Having Café 1505 as a distribution point gives subscribers more locations to collect our delicious produce, giving supporters on the South side of Edinburgh a whole new way to tackle homelessness with us.”

Cyrenians Farm in Kirknewton, West Lothian, is home to a community for young people aged 16-25 years, and the surrounding working farm provides opportunities for residents, volunteers, and visitors to grow vegetables, and develop life skills, while being in a trusting and nurturing community. Another initiative includes Café 1505’s coffee grinds being used in compost for the Cyrenians Farm creating a circular sustainability scheme.

To mark World Homelessness Day in October, Surgeons Quarter’s flagship hotel – Ten Hill Place – hosted an event with Cyrenians to launch its latest impact report. The report celebrates the role Cyrenians has played over the last year to tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness, supporting over 10,000 people in their time of need through the 60+ services that it runs in Central and South East Scotland.

This charity partnership is the latest in a long line of ethically motivated actions by Surgeons Quarter whose profits go towards the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s (RCSEd) objective of improving patient outcomes globally.

Stewart Munro, operations manager at Surgeons Quarter, added: “We are always looking for new ways to incorporate sustainable practices across the entire SQ campus.

“That’s why it’s important that we work with incredible charities, like Cyrenians, to foster these initiatives is something we are all very passionate about, and we’re delighted to work with them as a distribution point for their veg bag subscriptions.

“By enjoying coffee at Café 1505, you’re contributing to compost at Cyrenians Farm, where the veggies for these bags are grown. It’s a wonderful cycle of sustainability!”

As part of Surgeons Quarter’s commitment to ethical practices, Equal Exchange’s ‘Grown by Women’ coffee is served in Café 1505, which supports female farmers in Peru and Mexico. It has also held a Gold Award in Green Business Tourism since 2009 and prioritise sustainability in the four-star Ten Hill Place Hotel, which they manage and promote along with all other commercial activities held within the RCSEd campus.