The popular Community Waffle House will be moving into Axminster's landmark town centre building, Trinity House, later this year.

The news was announced last night (Tuesday) in a live video on Facebook, where Waffle House team members chatted with Ian Styles, managing director of Axminster Property, which owns and is currently refurbishing Trinity House, and local celebrity auctioneer Graham Barton.

The Waffle House was opened in West Street last April as a non-profit-making community interest company and has been a huge success, with every penny made going to help the needy of Axminster, especially the isolated and lonely.

The Waffle House is being run by three directors - Matt Smith, Tim and Sophie Mclachlan - and a team of around 20 helpers. It recently reopened as a takeaway following the coronavirus lockdown.

Now the business plans to expand, taking on the whole of the first floor of Trinity House - a space five times the size of its current premises.

Explaining their plans on the video last night, Sophie said they intend to split the space into three different areas; a cafe serving up the same delicious Belgian waffles, a children's play area and a work space, especially for those who have been working from home for a long time during lockdown.

They are even looking into the possibility of installing a slide to take customers from the Waffle House into the cellars of Trinity House.

The new Waffle House is due to open five days a week from November, with savoury waffles also returning to the menu, as well as the popular sweet treats. There will be a lift to the first floor to make the space accessible to all.

The Waffle House team said they hope it will be a "huge benefit to the community" and they are keen to hear from residents how they would like the space to be used.

"We have a lot of ideas such as our games nights, youth club and autism hour, but it's really a blank canvas. It's really Axminster's space," they added.

They are now looking for more volunteers to help run the larger Waffle House, and will be looking at recruiting staff in the future.

Ian Styles commented: "We are absolutely delighted and this is great news for Axminster. We've got some great shops opening, some great adventures to be had and to have Waffle at Trinity House will be just amazing.

He added that all units in the former department store had now been let, except for one small office on the top floor.