The Archbishop of Canterbury has visited a community café in Southampton as part of his visit to the Diocese of Winchester. 

The Most Revd Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, spent Friday morning meeting the team at the EDGE Christian Community Hub and Café on the Townhill Estate. 

The Archbishop has been visiting Southampton, sharing stories about his own Christian faith and listening to the stories of others.

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While he is visiting over the weekend, one of the Archbishop’s main priorities is to meet with people who are not Christians, to encourage churches in the area to reach out to their communities.

He met with Ruth Hills, who set up the EDGE café in partnership with Ascension Church.

The Archbishop and Ruth HillThe Archbishop and Ruth Hill (Image: Submitted) Speaking to the Echo following the visit, Ruth said: "It was such an amazing experience - he is just lovely. 

"He was so keen to see what we have been doing and it was an absolute pleasure to have him with us for the morning. 

"Archbishop Justin loves Jesus and came to see exactly how Jesus is at work in our community in Southampton.

"He had a cup of tea with our regular café visitors, hearing their stories, whilst enjoying a bacon butty."

The Archbishop painted a tile in the craft area of the café which will serve as a reminder of the time he came to visit.

The café founder continued: "We have our our personal tile wall - this allows any visitors to make a personal tile and put it on the wall with the rest to represent being part of the community. 

"The Archbishop designed his own personal tile which has been placed in the centre with the others. 

"For myself - I just felt that he was truly a man of God - you could just tell he was genuinely interested to learn about people's stories."