Joy to the World
Illustration: Marshall Steptoe
Community cafés offer so much to local people - place to come together, to learn, connect and recharge. Here Chipo Muwowo learns more about Bournemouth’s Joy Café.
It’s a Monday morning and I’m sat at a long, wooden table down the far end of the Joy Cafe. The light is streaming through the large windows, providing some much needed warmth on this mid-September day. It’s not long after 10am, the cafe’s official opening time, and the place is quickly filling with customers. The energy is warm and friendly, the kind of inviting hubbub you’d expect in a community cafe.
Located in Churchill Gardens in Boscombe, Joy Cafe has come a long way since July 2015 when it launched as a pop-up cafe. It was such a hit that the team decided to move into a more permanent building in one of the areas small green spaces. In July 2022, the current cafe building opened. Co-financed by BCP Council and the Aspire programme European Regional Development Fund, it’s a larger space with a kitchen and coffee-making area, more seating, two toilets, and an activities area.
Joy Cafe’s founder Becky Playfair lives on “the Square”, as Churchill Gardens is known locally. She’s motivated by a vision of deep, positive community relationships, inspired by her Christian faith. “One of the real joys for me is being able to walk from one side of the Square to another and be able to know people and stop for a chat. I know the people living in the tents, the people in the Onion [a recently-built structure near some large trees], and those on the basketball court,” she says. “There is genuine connectedness that we all get to experience here. And with that there’s a sense of safety and belonging.”
Becky and her team have worked hard to create and maintain a space where everyone feels welcome whether or not they can afford a flat white. “We want to serve this neighbourhood and create community and belonging right here even though there isn’t lots of disposable income,” she says. According to a 2021 census, Boscombe West was one of the most deprived areas in Dorset. 62.6% of households were said to be deprived in at least one dimension. Across the wider Boscombe area, 43% of children were said to be living in poverty, higher than the national average.
While I’m in the cafe, a woman carrying a large cardboard box full of foodstuffs arrives. A trestle table is hastily found and placed outside. The box goes on the table and people are free to help themselves. “She brings them from a few local supermarkets at once a week, during holidays it’s three to four times a week,” Becky informs me. “Often it’s bakery and bread stuff, sometimes there’s fruit, vegetables and flowers. It really blesses people. Some residents collect a whole bag of free stuff and then use it slowly.”
Over the years, Joy Cafe has become a hub for all types of community connection. I live 10 minutes away from the park so I’ve seen for myself the impact it’s had on the area. From art activities to kids’ fun days to its pay-it-forward board, the cafe truly exists for the community. Arguably, its presence has also encouraged the use of Churchill Gardens by outside groups for activities such as group yoga sessions and music festivals. Earlier this year, Sammy Haynes was appointed as a community development worker. She works a full week, part-time as a manager at Joy Cafe and part-time in the community. Her new role enables her to spend a bit more unhurried time with people, supporting them where she can.
Becky tells me of a local family who were recently made homeless. In between moving from B&Bs to hotels, the cafe team supported them in a number of ways. “We were a safe place and hub for them to come everyday to have a sit down and a chat, somewhere to be when they were between hotels. Beautifully, other people in the community stepped in too to help. One girl was looking after their dog while others were storing their bed.”
Close to where I’m sitting in the cafe, a piece of artwork says: “Come and have a cup of sunshine.” You know what? I think I will.
Come by for a visit and discover how Joy Cafe is making a difference.
Address → Joy Cafe, Churchill Gardens Bournemouth BH1 4ES
Website → joycafe.org
Instagram → @joycafeboscombe
