A year and a half after a community cafe was reopened it has raised hundreds of pounds for a food bank.

The Original Tea Hut, High Beach flung wide its doors in July 2016 following a public campaign against the City of London Corporation’s plan to put the hut’s management out to tender.

New facilities including picnic benches and mains water gave the hut a new lease of life and customer base, which was used for good this Christmas.

Visitors were asked to donate change to support the Loughton Foodbank, which had served more than 20,000 meals since it opened in 2013 as of May last year.

In total, £420 was collected to allow the facility to keep up its good work.

Paul Morris, who runs the Epping Forest Forum Facebook page, helped organise the tea hut campaign and the foodbank donation drive.

He said: "A few years ago there was quite a high profile campaign when the City of London was trying to shut the tea hut.

"We got lots of community support and we saved it.

"Each year since the tea hut was saved we try to put something back into the community, and the foodbank is perfect because of the work that they do locally.

"It really is the last line of defence for some people."

To find out more about the foodbank, go to www.eppingforest.foodbank.org.uk