A COUPLE who have taken on a community centre cafe hope people will soon be calling round for a 'good cuppa'.

Tomas and Vladimira Imre are breathing new life into the Tumbling Bay Cafe at West Oxford Community Centre, and are hoping to build its reputation as a bistro where people can enjoy proper coffee and a far-ranging selection of teas.

The pair, who live in Prestwich Place with their two children, took over the cafe which had been left without a proprietor.

Mr Imre said: "We are very excited to be taking on this project ourselves.

"It was a very long process and we are delighted that the trustees chose us to run the cafe for them.

"Although we are not the finished article at the moment, we have got lots of ideas up our sleeve."

The 41-year-old and his wife came to the UK from Slovakia in 2004 and have lived in Oxford for 12 years.

Having both worked in the catering industry with jobs at Cafe Nero, Pizza Express and North Oxford's Cherwell Boathouse, they decided to take on the challenge of running their own joint. And the new proprietors are keen to establish coffee and tea as a speciality.

Mr Imre said: "We want to get the basics right. It is really important for us to be able to give our customers a really good cup of coffee.

"The guys at Exotic Coffee Roasters in the Covered Market have spent several hours with us, showing us how to use the grinder, so hopefully the hard work will pay off.

"We've got our La Marzocco coffee machine up and running ready to brew freshly ground Columbian coffee."

A selection of home made cakes and biscuits are also available to visitors.

Mrs Imre added: "I always like to have something a little sweet to go with my coffee. We make cinnamon and raisin buns and they have gone down really well.

"We want our visitors to try different tastes from different cultures, which is why we have so many different teas from places like Japan and an Austrian chocolate cake."

But it is not just sweet treats that the cafe will provide.

Mr Imre said: "We want this to be a place where people working nearby come for their lunch, to get a warm, home-cooked meal.

"We will be changing the menu three to four times a week so people do not get bored.

"Favourites of mine are beef goulash and chicken schnitzel."

In time the couple hope to decorate the cafe walls with art work from West Oxford residents.

Mr Imre added: "We want to start with work by Andrew Mason, the artist in residence at the community centre. He is a really great guy and we love his work.

"Then we would like to keep changing it and have different exhibitions on the wall, so there will always be something new."

The cafe is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 6pm.