Havens Connections Cafe

16/04/2026

Please follow the Cafe's new page, run by the wonderful team at the Hillcrest Community Centre, sharing all the latest opening times, menus, events:

Hillcrest Community Cafe

Bay Vue Road, Newhaven BN9 9LH
[email protected]
01273 512376

💙

16/04/2026

Just a quick update: the Café will be closed this Friday (17th April) for one day only while we hand things over to the Hillcrest Community Centre Team.

We’ve loved running the Café and creating a warm, affordable space for the community. Hillcrest will now be taking it forward, and we’re excited to see it continue to thrive under their team, welcoming a new Cafe Manager Laura Needham and Assistant Manager Jackie Rowsell. Go follow them on the Cafe's new page: Hillcrest Community Cafe💙

We’ve loved running the Café and creating a welcoming, affordable space for the community. A huge thank‑you to everyone who has supported us and a special thank you to Café Manager, Julia Dunstan for the wonderful environment she has built. As the Hillcrest takes the Café forward, our team at Havens Community Hub will be turning our attention to a new community project, with more details coming soon.

13/04/2026

Havens Community Hub puts the needs of the community first. Providing personalised support to good causes and creating partnership projects to meet established community need.

01/04/2026

We are delighted to be stocking EMERGENTEA for one day only!

31/03/2026

26/03/2026

Three years ago, Havens Community Hub joined forces with Hillcrest Community Partnership to help the Hillcrest Centre overcome tough financial challenges, exacerbated by the pandemic. Together, we were determined to bring the Centre back as the beating heart of the community.

One of our first steps was reopening the much-loved community café, a place for everyone to connect, enjoy fresh food, and share good times. With Havens’ support, hundreds of free meals were provided to those in need, and we worked hand in hand with Hillcrest to create a welcoming space.

The café is now a lively hub, thanks to the dedication of Havens volunteers, Hillcrest Trustees, and both sets of staff. It’s thriving—serving affordable, delicious food to locals, hirers, and visitors. Hillcrest Centre is ready to take the reins, ensuring the café continues to shine.

This isn’t goodbye—it’s a celebration of what we’ve achieved together. We’re excited to see Hillcrest lead the café into its next chapter, keeping it as a treasured asset for the community.
The transition will happen by the end of April.

Meanwhile, Havens will continue to provide supported morning meals for rough sleepers at the café until Havens manager, Julia Dunstan, moves to a new location to lead a vital initiative delivering trauma-informed support for people in crisis locally.
The Hillcrest Centre will keep the café buzzing with lunches, bookings, and event refreshments.

We’re looking forward to what’s next and will keep sharing updates as our projects grow. Here’s to a brighter, more connected future for everyone!

22/03/2026

Dear Havens,

We operate a free supported breakfast session, Monday to Friday from 9am to 10.30am at our Connections Cafe in the Hillcrest Community Centre - Newhaven.

We do our best to ensure our nine current rough sleepers have the means to stay in contact with the local statutory authorities, their families, and other supporting charities. To do this, they most importantly need power to keep their phones charged. We also have 'warm-up' equipment that can be used independently of mains power, which operates from charged power banks.

During breakfast (or during the day), we can swap their empty power banks for fully charged ones, but we have given out all the current ones and would ideally have a few more to be charged and ready to go. Our Amazon list can be found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/KZCE94G5LNRE?ref_=wl_share, and the power banks are nearly half price today, if anyone would like to send us one.

There are other items on there, equally useful, if you would prefer to support us this way - and also accept shower gel and washing liquid (for machines) for our friends at the Baptist Church, who offer showers and clothes-washing facilities on Wednesdays and Fridays at their premises.

Thank you all in advance.

We cannot accept donations of anything else (clothes, bedding) as, although it is kind of people to offer, we do not have our own premises to store them.
We have bid for ELIM CHURCH, but it seems there is a spanner in the works with the use of these premises for community support, as we wish to do, which is an awful shame.

*Image AI-generated, not real volunteers or beneficiaries*

05/03/2026

Happy World Book Day 📚📖

We have teamed up with Newhaven Library to bring you a book themed tea party this afternoon to celebrate world book day.

Please see the link below for more details and information on how to book:

https://eastsussex.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/EVSESENQ/18773914/49031494,2

13/02/2026

🎨✨ Friday Crafternoon at the Café ✨☕

Looking for a relaxed, creative way to spend your Friday afternoon? Come along to our Craft Drop-In Session on Fridays!

🗓 Friday Afternoon
📍 Havens Connections Cafe, Hillcrest Community Centre
🕒 1 till 3 pm

Bring your knitting, crochet, sketchbook, journaling, embroidery, card-making – whatever you’re working on! Or simply come along for inspiration, good company, and a lovely cup of coffee. ☕🧶✂️

This is a friendly, informal session – no pressure, no experience needed, just creativity and conversation in a cosy café setting.

Tag a crafty friend and make it a crafternoon to look forward to! 💛

10/02/2026

From our kitchen to our community 🤍

Angelique Caulder-Pas has made some amazing Nutella & biscoff pastries

Julia has treated us all to a biscoff and carambel cheesecake with homemade ice cream.

Come enjoy a sweet treat and a warm welcome!