FOOD destined for the bin is being served up to customers at a new community cafe.

And diners at Bolton's Common Wealth Café need not worry about the price – they can pay as much they decide to for their meals.

The Bolton Real Junk Food Project opened up seven weeks ago to run a twice-weekly cafe from the Citadel in St George's Road. Run entirely by volunteers, the cafe produces meals using only surplus ingredients, such as unsold food left on the shelf at local bakers and butchers, and food supermarkets would usually bin despite still being edible.

Alan Brown, aged 49, from Westhoughton, helped to get the project up and running. He said: "We are using food that would otherwise be going to the landfill and the pay-as-you-feel makes an income no barrier to getting food. It's all good home cooking too. There's no excuse for not serving healthy food at the end of the day."

The cafe is one of almost 100 Real Junk Food Project cafes in the UK which are part of the The Real Junk Food Project Global Network which was set up two years ago in Leeds by chef Adam Smith.

Bolton's cafe, which is set up in partnership with Bolton Salvation Army, is already receiving plenty of support from local supermarkets and businesses donating food.

Projects such as the one in Bolton have also received the backing of celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, featuring in his series ‘Hugh’s War on Waste’

The series highlights the destruction of millions of tonnes of edible food at every stage of the supply chain by the food industry.

Bolton's project has already got up to 20 volunteers on board, helping behind the scenes and in the kitchen when the cafe is open every Tuesday and Thursday between 11am and 3pm.

Among them are Christine Winnard, 67, from Great Lever, who signed up after seeing an advertisement for the project.

She said: "There's a really good mix of people coming in and everyone talks to each other and are made to feel welcome.

"This is a nice warm place to come for a few hours and make a few friends."

David Neild, 36, is currently homeless and heard about the cafe through word of mouth.

He said: "I've not been looking after myself and someone told me to come down here where I could get a cup of coffee and food. There are some lovely people here and it's a nice place to come.Places like this are important, especially at Christmas."

Christine Walton, 57, from Bradshaw, has become a regular customer thanks to the welcoming atmosphere.

She said: "The food is wonderful and you can sit down and talk to anybody, we are all equal. There's a lovely friendly, supportive atmosphere of solidarity."