A POP up community cafe in Glasgow's west end that has served free, nutritious three-course meals to more than 5000 people in two years is to be replicated in other UK cities.

Around 65 people are welcomed into the vegetarian cafe, run by the Woodlands Community Development Trust, every Monday evening for food, company, cookery demonstrations and sometimes even a free music lesson.

No referrals, vouchers or proof of poverty is required and no one is turned away. Similar cafes have now been launched in other parts of the city and a charity from Manchester is now in talks with the Trust about replicating the scheme.

Most of the ingredients for the meals are sourced from a nearby community garden, run by the Trust, where around 50 local residents have allotments. Other food is sourced from restaurants or supermarkets which might be otherwise be destined for the skip.

The majority of staff who turn up every week at the Fred Paton Centre off Great Western Road are volunteers. Many started out as diners.

Attendance levels have doubled in the last year simply through word of mouth.

The Trust is now hoping to expand with a lunchtime service aimed at families if they can secure enough funding.

Tim Cowan, manager of the Woodland Community Trust, said: "We have been working in the community for a number of years and the cafe has grown out of our community garden.

"The first two cafes no-one turned up.

"We now average about 60 or 70 people a week though over the last 12 months we have served just under 4000 meals.

"We haven't run out of food yet. We are quite canny and quite good at portioning it out and we always cook a little more than we need.

"People really compliment it for being healthy, it's something different from a foodbank where people go in and collect their food parcels and go away.

"A lot of the food that is donated isn't particularly healthy or environmentally friendly.

"What we didn't expect when we started out was how strongly people would benefit from the social interaction. If you look in the kitchen there is a real diverse mix of people.

"We get people who are lonely, people who are isolated, the cafe is the only time during the week where they can sit down and share a meal.

"You might have people who are skint, either in or out of work or having problems with their benefits.

"We also have quite a high number of asylum seekers and refugees and people who are disabled or carers or have mental health issues.

"I think two of the main strengths of the cafe is that we don't have any referral criteria or paperwork or buracracy so people can just turn up and then also we have a very active pool of volunteers who we train and support.

"There's a quote in our publicity material saying 'the food here is shared and in that sharing we all feel equal.' If you went into the cafe you don't know why someone is coming there. If they are there as a volunteer, if they are there as a user.

"We have a pool of about 42-45 volunteers. Most weeks we have about 15 volunteers. They cook a three-course meal from scratch using fresh ingredients.

The cafe receives some funding from the National Lottery and the Scottish Government to fund two part-time posts and to run a volunteer training programme.

Tim said: "What we would be interested in was if we had enough resources, is running an additional session through the day for families with young children."

Jan McDonald, 58, takes two buses every week from her home in Garscadden to attend the cafe with her son Adam and granddaughters Millie, 6 and Taylor, 10.

She said: "'Adam has additional support needs and I'm his full-time carer and it's a great break for me.

"It's really good for the girls because it's giving them a bigger choice of food. The food is delicious and they are so kind. I can sit with my friends and relax.

"The recipes are good and I think it encourages you to eat healthier."

Volunteer cook Malcolm McDougal, 47, from Maryhill, said: "I can now make soup for 60-70 people. A lot of the veg we use I didn't know it existed.

"I also help with the serving and it has helped my people skills.

"It has opened my eyes up to something really positive. I wasn't really doing anything before this."

Diners also have access to free piano lessons from music teacher and volunteer, Grainne Rooney.

She said: "We did an exercise where we asked people to write their thoughts about the cafe on post-it notes and then we composed a song.

"Of course everyone said the food was good but the main thing that was commented on was the atmosphere, the social side.

"One person said 'I feel normal in here, I don't feel normal outside but I feel normal in here.'