A CARLISLE cafe has become a 'cultural centre' for the city.

Cakes & Ale, on Castle Street, is more than just a cafe.

It is connected to the bookshops, Bookcase and Bookends, and hosts various cultural events.

Steve Matthews, the owner, opened Cakes & Ale seven years ago.

He said: "It was part of a concept as to how bookshops and book shopping is going generally.

"Bookcase is one of the biggest second hand bookshops in the country.

"We’re very much a destination sort of place.

"We moved Bookends from the centre of town down to join us and we opened a café so that we’re one big place to come to where you can get new second hand books, you can come and have a coffee and sit in the garden and have a piece of cake."

Mr Matthews moved to the area 40 ago, orginally hailing from Wales.

He taught at The Nelson Thomlinson School in Wigton.

He said that Cakes & Ale is not solely focused on food and drink.

"It works really well," he said.

"We’re looked on very much as a cultural centre in the Carlisle community.

"We put on lots of talks at Cakes and Ale.

"We have various groups meeting and open mics, things like that. We’re very much of being something far more than retail or being a simple café."

Last week the shop hosted musician Ben Singh, feminist poet Kim Moore and a open mic night.

Former Cumberland News journalist Roger Lytollis will do a talk about his new books next month, as will Booker Prize shortlisted author Sarah Hall.

Mr Matthews said: "brings its own injection of life into the place. It fits in so well.

"Customers come here and look round, have a coffee, come back and look round a bit further.

"We get people from all over the country. Glasgow, Newcastle, Preston, from down south and so on."

Regarding the future of Cakes & Ale, Mr Matthews said: "We’ll carry on very much as we’re doing.

"We’ve got somebody who’s in charge of developing evening activities because we want to have something on most nights of the week, if we can attract people.

"Talks, quizzes, open mics, debate, discussions.

"Anything that’s a bit different and adds a bit to the local community."