Cafes with a conscience

Situated on Gainsborough Square, Buzz Lockleaze looks like any other coffee shop – one that would appear at home on streets across Bristol. But in reality, this cafe does so much more than provide a much needed caffeine fix: it’s a social enterprise helping out the people of Lockleaze in north Bristol.

From the people that work there to the work of local artists on the walls, this place lives and breathes the Lockleaze community, a community “still dealing with the effects of Thatcher’s Britain,” according to operations manager David Parry.

Buzz, as it has been affectionately nicknamed by its staff and customers, was set up in 2014 with the help of the North Bristol Advice Centre to mitigate some of the issues facing the area, including the steady decline of the local economy, high unemployment rates and local people dealing with a range of long-term health complications.

The exterior of Buzz Lockleaze, a social enterprise cafe which aims to help the community of Lockleaze.

The cafe takes a two-pronged approach to these problems. Firstly, it acts as a social space where local residents can access nutrition advice and buy affordable healthy breakfast and lunch options to help bolster individuals’ wellbeing.

In turn, the profits from the cafe are reinvested into projects and local community work. Sarah King, the cafe’s marketing and social media officer, says that Buzz aims to be a “safe space for people facing some sort of barrier,” which range from isolation and unemployment to disability and poor mental health.

In its aim to provide an inclusive and welcoming space, Buzz Lockleaze runs a number of clubs such as gardening, cooking and book clubs, and one of Buzz’s most successful projects is the Wednesday jobs club. By offering personalised CV advice, mentoring and one-to-one support, Buzz helps those who need it in an area where employment deprivation is higher than both the average for Bristol and the national average.

Buzz worker Maria Perrett who runs a singing group supported by Buzz

Also on offer is Buzz’s enterprise programme, which provides funding and training to potential and growing businesses. One success story is Kate, an Lockleaze resident who set up Kate’s Krafty Bags with the help of training courses and a grant provided by Buzz.

A topic of conversation that repeatedly came up were the plans to regenerate Lockleaze with the building of new homes and schools. While cafe staff and customers broadly saw the regeneration as a good thing, David sees Buzz’s new role as “being the bridge between what the area was and what it is becoming, and bringing people together from different areas and backgrounds.”

Kate, founder of Kate’s Krafty Bags, who reveived a grant and training from Buzz to develop her business.

Buzz is just one of the social enterprise cafes in Bristol that help those who may face some sort of social barrier.

Under the grand façade of St Mary Redcliffe Church lives Arc, a cafe set up in 2012 by the Addiction Recovery Agency to provide training and employment opportunities to those in recovery, as well as to reduce the stigma surrounding addiction.

Brian, 52, and Barbara, 51, have been married for 14 years. Both are now in recovery, part of which is at Arc. “Our whole life was focused around drink and drugs,” Barbara says. “We’ve lost a lot, including two houses, and spent copious amounts of money.”

Brian and Barbara, who are both in recovery from addictions to drugs and alcohol, now work in Arc.

Originally from Salisbury, Brian came to Bristol six years ago with the help of a friend to live in a local dry house. The couple then found Arc, where their key roles are preparing food and drinks (the cafe serves a selection of breakfast and lunch options) and serving customers alongside six other volunteers.

“For years I had anxiety and panic attacks and would get up in the morning and have a drink,” Brian says over a cup of tea in the cafe’s impressive vaulted surroundings.

“But I’ve slowly built up my confidence here, step by step. It took me a while to even get to the front of the cafe.” Brian now has paid employment and has started management training at Arc, while Barbara volunteers. “At the end of the day, if we hadn’t come in we wouldn’t be here today,” Barbara says and Brian agrees.

The Arc cafe is under Mary St Redcliffe Church.

The Brandon Trust is a charity that aims to enhance the quality of life of those with learning disabilities. It runs a number of cafes in and around Bristol, such as the Vassall Centre cafe (Fishponds), Saint Stephen’s (City Centre) and Grimsbury Farm (Kingswood).

The cafes offer a mixture of paid and volunteer positions, supporting those with a wide range of learning disabilities with a current age range of 17-55. Those who work in the cafe do a variety of tasks with the help of support workers, such as preparing food, making cakes and serving customers.

Katie Vince, project coordinator at the Brandon Trust, says the cafes are designed “to offer people a transition into the workplace, as there is a quite a big gap from going to college to paid employment.

“It has made a big difference to a lot of individuals’ lives,” she says about the transferable life and social skills working in the cafes provide. “It gives them something to get up for in the morning, it makes them feel valued.”

Saint Stephen’s cafe is just one the Bristol cafes managed by the Brandon Trust.

Despite the obvious value of social enterprise cafes to society, they are coming up against increasing difficulty. Due to the area’s comparatively low footfall, Buzz Lockleaze relies on a loyal set of regular customers for its funding: “We want people to realise we are here and you don’t have to search to find parking like you would in other areas like Gloucester Road!” says Sarah King.

Brian identifies Bristol’s competitive cafe market as Arc’s biggest challenge, and in order to compete the cafe has started serving a selection of new food and drinks.

For cafes managed by the Brandon Trust, the biggest challenge is funding. “We would love to be able to pay all of our staff and the more money we make in the cafe, the more paid positions we can have,” says Katie. So, it’s up to locals to support these enterprises and choose those serving a slice of community cohesion with their cuppa.