Honesty is the best policy as far as customers at a coffee shop next to the Titanic exhibition in Belfast are concerned.

The Dock, a café in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, is expanding thanks to the success of its honesty box policy.

Originally opened as a pop-up business 15 months ago, the café is now expanding according to the Irish Times.
 
The coffee shop asks patrons to put whatever they feel is appropriate into an honesty box before leaving.

Church of Ireland minister Rev Chris Bennett, who helps to run the cafe with counterparts from other faiths in Northern Ireland, described it as a ‘community living room’ in the Irish Times.

He said: “Overseas visitors who may not know what a cup of coffee costs over here, we might give them a suggested price, but 99 times out of 100 we just leave it to people’s discretion whatever they think is a fair price.”

Staffed by volunteers, The Dock is close to the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction and doesn’t have to pay rent.

The building owners at the Titanic Quarter have offered the commercial unit free of charge until a new tenant emerges.

Titanic Quarter chief executive David Gavaghan told the paper that the cafe had become a ‘community hub’ for an area with about 15,000 people living, working and studying.