The University is currently evaluating its approach to food outlets on campus in response to customer comments and survey results received in the last two years. It is clear that all users of the current facilities want to maintain and enhance some outlets and see less value in others, and this is greatly informing our thinking. For example, many of you will have seen the building improvements recently completed at the Westwood Café and taking place at the Arts Centre Restaurant (formerly EAT) and noticed the work being undertaken to extend the menu at Bar Fusion in Rootes.

This work continues into the summer break, when a new coffee facility will be added to University House, extending the range and improving service at peak times in the existing café. Planning is also underway for an extension to the Café Library and the first plans have recently been received. Rootes Restaurant, however, closed at the end of term three and will not reopen in the new academic year. The Restaurant has become less and less frequently used and is disproportionately expensive to run and maintain. The newly revamped outlets will offer improved choice and variety and will fill the niche that Rootes previously occupied. It is always sad to see any outlet close, but despite several changes in the menu and a number of promotional offers, custom in Rootes Restaurant has declined dramatically over several years. Changes in taste and presentation have altered dramatically in the last decade, so the University plans to respond by enhancing the additional outlets and re-shaping the existing ones to cater for these new expectations.

We continually look at all our outlets and respond to customer demand with new recipes and menus. A feasibility study for the existing Rootes Building has been commissioned and we will be consulting on this in due course.

Looking in more detail at the proposed changes to outlets:

• Café Westwood recently reopened. The restaurant space has been completely remodelled as a modern "food meets retail" outlet. One of the key benefits of this refurbishment is that the University gains a significant social and learning space, one that Westwood users have wanted for some time.
• Those of you who have walked past the Arts Centre Restaurant space will have seen the contractors hard at work. The new restaurant will be brighter and opened up with the windows onto the adjacent walkway. A welcoming bar area offering tapas style snacks and theatre style cooking in a huge stone fired oven will be focal points of the new restaurant, which will offer a greatly extended menu. This will open during the summer vacation and will be in full swing at the start of term.
• Bar Fusion's menu is being further extended to take account of customer demands and to help provide one of the many alternatives for former customers of Rootes Restaurant. The ordering process will also be simplified to provide a better customer experience.
• The Atrium Coffee Bar will open in University House during September. It will offer a wide range of coffees, cakes and snacks and open for longer hours than the current café and restaurant. This will improve service in the café area particularly at peak times and will lead to a much better experience for customers.
• Café Library is the busiest outlet on campus and work is being undertaken to find an appropriate design to extend it. The first drawings of a much improved, modern extension coming out onto the adjacent patio are being further developed for work to be undertaken during the next academic year.