Monifieth Community Fridge has upgraded from town toilets to expand into a new town centre shop.
On Monday, it opened its doors at 5 High Street in a move that now combines the community fridge with a charity shop to help raise funds for the initiative.
Volunteers say the initial response to the latest development has been fantastic.
The community-led project began in spring 2024 as a means of reducing food waste locally.
Months of hard work led to it opening in the former toilet block beside Monifieth library.
It instantly proved a runaway success.
Library sale left community fridge looking for new home
But it was left searching for a new home after the library was put on the market.
It followed Angus Council’s decision to move the facility into the new £2.3 million Monifieth Activity Centre.
Trustee Lynne Murray said a couple of potential options were considered before settling on the High Street shop next to Troup Pharmacy.
“We wanted to stay on the High Street to make it accessible for people, and hopefully get good footfall,” said Lynne.
“The community fridge isn’t a food bank. It’s somewhere for everyone to come to, regardless of their situation.
“There’s no means testing or anything else required, people should just bring a bag.
“We really want to reduce food waste.”
Lynne added: “We have joined all the programmes run by the likes of the supermarkets to pick everything up from them each night.
“We average about 50 to 60 people coming in a day.”
Community fridge evening opening added
At present, the community fridge opens for a couple of hours each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
And from this week it is adding Tuesday evening opening from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.
Its success is down to a dedicated band of around 40 volunteers and the seven-strong group of trustees who oversee the set-up.
Lynne added: “We went into the whole thing blind last year so we’ve learned a lot.
“This is the next stage and we hope the charity shop will help us fund the shop and continue the success of the community fridge.
“We’re well stocked as far as donations for the shop go.
“Monifieth doesn’t have a charity shop so hopefully it will also go well.”
Conversation