AN eagerly-anticipated addition to the recently opened Helensburgh Heroes Centre has welcomed its first customers.

Hucksters, a 1950s themed cafe, named after Burgh actress Deborah Kerr’s breakthrough Hollywood film, officially opened at the charity’s Sinclair Street premises on Saturday, December 30.

The centre itself – a celebration of the achievements of local people – opened on December 2 and has seen a steady stream of visitors, but work on the cafe was completed at the end of the month and the facility opened just before the New Year.

Phil Worms, Helensburgh Heroes trustee, welcomed the response received so far.

He said: “We had a very busy weekend at the café and we are very pleased with the feedback we have received, the customers seem delighted with the décor, style and service.

“The feedback is helping us to tweak things and the more feedback we can get the better to ensure we have what people want.

“People have given us ideas as to other things we could serve and things they would like to see and we will take it all on board as we continue to work towards great customer service.”

It is now hoped that the cafe, along with the exhibition of Helensburgh’s heroes, will attract visitors from far afield as well as locals.

With the venue fully up and running, the trustees are looking ahead to the bigger “phase two” part of the Heroes Centre project.

The charity has produced two questionnaires to gather local opinion on what the community think is important for Helensburgh and what they would like to see in the larger centre.

Mr Worms said: “We want to capture as much community feedback as we can ahead of phase 2 to ensure it is what people want.

“The first questionnaire is for people to tell us what they would like to see to give us ideas for thing to consider.

“As a charity we also need support and the second questionnaire is for people who might consider working, volunteering or fund-raising for the charity.”

The questionnaires can be picked up at the Heroes Centre, the library, Victoria Halls or viewed on the charity’s website (www.helensburghheroes.com).

* Due to redecoration work, the Heroes Centre and Hucksters will be closed in the early part of this week.

In a statement on their Facebook page the charity said: "We have taken the decision to close for a couple of days to enable us to complete the works.

"We do apologise in advance to you if you were considering popping down to see us in the next day or two but we hope that you will understand.

"After this work is completed we'll be back for good! Thank you for your patience."