Southwater Library is sited in a wonderful pedestrian area that I would have to describe as a leisure piazza with shops, hotels, restaurants, cinema, bowling and an ice rink. Next to the library is a water feature and pond and a lovely vast park with bike hire, tree climbing and a zoo. The library is housed in a building with the Council offices.

 The ground floor is partly taken up with a Costa coffee shop and some library self-service facilities while the escalator takes customers up to the main library. The first floor has another entrance and terrace which leads to the pond and park.

The only drawback is that the floors had a bit of a doughnut feeling because of the escalators in the middle. The kids area was just a small section of the floor, not very intimate or imaginative, although comfy. But there were other nooks and crannies that had seating and bookcases and were intimate. On the second floor there are gates where you need a pass to access the upper floors – presumably where there are council offices – but somehow the gate barriers felt rather obtrusive and didn’t give off the right feel.

There was a variety of desks and seating but several were reserved for council business so we felt we couldn’t just sit down there and read, even though it was a Saturday and I suspect the council staff are not working or taking appointments on Saturdays.

But, generally it is an excellent facility with a welcoming modern feel and in the right environment. I can see it would be a great place to take young children as you could go to the park and feed the ducks and play in the water feature and pop into the library. I think teenagers and students would be encouraged to hang out there as it is a relaxed environment, although I am not sure there are enough serious quiet study spaces. I’m sure the adults and senior citizens in the community appreciate the investment into the area and that the library is part of that. I agree with community hubs that incorporate council first-contact points within libraries as I think it puts a positive face on council services. I also love libraries that have a cafe and I do love a Costa!