The Santander Work Café on North Quay has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors in its first 12 months.

Since opening its doors in Douglas last May, the café has become a new hub for meeting, banking, co-working and events for all the community.

Santander International Isle of Man managing director James Geldart said: ‘The Santander Work Café has proved a massive success with customers and the wider community.

‘We anticipated that Market Hall would be a brilliant site and following extensive restorations the 120-year-old building is once again a vibrant hub for business in the centre of Douglas.’

The café offers free bookable meeting rooms equipped with the latest audio-visual equipment, and accessible co-working spaces with free high-speed Wi-Fi, open to everyone. Santander International customers can also meet banking staff to discuss their banking needs and withdraw money using ATMs.

Over the past year the Work Café has received over 3,740 meeting room bookings and has hosted more than 92 events.

James said: ‘Noa remains a popular place for people to meet, and by expanding catering to the co-working space, more people can enjoy Noa’s fantastic coffee and food while they work.

‘Our event space is used by all the community, providing a free, accessible location for charities, entrepreneurs, and local groups to host events.’

Noa, which means ‘fresh’ in Manx, was set up as a sourdough bakery by Pippa and Miles Pettit more than 10 years ago.  It has expanded into patisserie, coffee roasting, brewing, and hospitality, while maintaining its focus on sustainable produce, procured through direct trade, or made in the Isle of Man. It now has a second main site at the Peveril Buildings opposite the Sea Terminal in Douglas.

Pippa said: ‘The new space offers something for everyone in the community and is a celebration of what can happen when we work together. We have enjoyed welcoming back friendly faces over the past year and expanding our offering to a new audience.’

The Santander Work Café Isle of Man is the bank’s third work café in the British Isles and one of the largest in the group.

Since the launch of the first in Chile in 2016, the bank has opened more than 100 around the world, including branches in Leeds and Jersey.