The Carnegie Cafe is a warm and inviting space at the heart of the Carnegie Library Hub. It’s a place to relax, meet friends and enjoy great coffee, tea and homemade cakes, salads, sandwiches and brunch. A takeaway service is also available.
Cafe opening hours:
* The cafe is temporarily closed whilst we transition into our new operator. Please check our Instagram page or bookmark this page for updates.
A welcoming community space
Adjacent to the cafe is the Loughborough Junction Lounge, a community lounge open during cafe opening hours, including when the library is closed before 10am and during lunchtime. The lounge is a free-to-use space for local people, but areas can be reserved for use by community groups – visit our room hire pages for more details on how you can book this space, or any other rooms within the Carnegie Library Hub. It is also a warm space. Being a community lounge means that anyone can come in an relax, it is not necessary to buy anything from the wonderful cafe to sit here. However, we do not permit bringing in of your own food and drink into the lounge, nor laptop users who have not bought from the cafe. Free workspace desks are offered in the library itself.
The Carnegie Cafe area is welcome to all visitors, whether you want a homely space to enjoy a drink and snack while reading, chat to friends and neighbours or to relax after a workout at the gym. Perhaps you might drop-in to grab a takeaway on the way to Ruskin Park, catch-up with friends after school drop-off, or simply enjoy a warm and welcome place to come and sit.
Well-behaved dogs are free to come into the cafe area only, but must be kept on a lead.
A brief history of the Carnegie Cafe
A cafe has long been discussed for the Carnegie Library Hub. As long ago as 2015 an independently compiled community consultation discussed inclusion of a cafe in the building. A cafe scored in the top quartile of proposed Hub services, with the most popular being on the ground floor accompanying the existing library. A decade later we finally have a nascent Hub with an ever-growing list of partnerships, events and services and a fully functioning cafe.
The inclusion of a cafe is pivotal to the success of the Carnegie Library Hub. As well as contributing to our community offering, it is far more important than the financial return it will generate. It encourages visitors to spend longer in the building and use more of the facilities on offer, including the library and other room hire services. It provides a focal point for meeting in the Carnegie Library Hub that is more suitable for social gatherings.
Through an open tender process in 2022, the Hub invited numerous local cafes to submit proposals for a community cafe. We received excellent proposals overall.
The listed building consent design, encapsulates a simple servery counter which embodies heritage aspects, with notes from the buildings glorious Edwardian origins, while offering it up in a fresh and uncomplicated way that will be welcoming to all ages and the diverse community we wish to serve.