By Julia Grant, Owner of Winter’s Moon and Director at Chichester BID
As an independent retailer in Chichester, I am always really excited when another independent business takes the leap and opens in the city. Even more so when it is a creative business putting community and young people at its heart. The Jam cafe is a not-for-profit enterprise situated at the bottom of South Street which opened at the beginning of February. Its founder, Sarah Collins, has been dreaming of creating a cafe space for young people for over 15 years. The cafe has a range of creative and musical offerings on the menu – from the fun stuff such as open mic nights, bingo, quiz nights and craft clubs to more tangible support focussed sessions helping teenagers find their next steps when they have maybe decided to leave education.
Sarah’s experience lies in youth work and music, giving her a unique range of skills to create somewhere to appeal to teenagers. It is estimated that nearly 70% of youth clubs have closed across the UK in the past 10-15 years due to government cuts, and several youth clubs that existed across the Chichester district are no longer running. These clubs provided safe spaces, community, fun, games and so much support, all much needed for our kids especially post-Covid.
The Jam cafe will work in partnership with existing young people services, clubs and schools to reach as many young people as possible with its curriculum of support. However, it is also just a really lovely cafe for anyone of any age. Jam offers a lovely colourful creative atmosphere, great locally roasted Host coffee and tasty food in a beautiful building. Already Sarah can see the greenshoots of a lovely nurturing community that will grow within the space she has created, with repeat customers and good demand for the events and clubs. She has plans to build on the current musical offering with more studio equipment which would be such a great asset for teenagers wanting to learn more about music production.
I would just like to leave you with my belief that we really need to support individuals like Sarah, who are driven by the need they can see for the community to create something really special. It’s a truly scary decision to set up a business on the high street at these times, when you don’t have the backing of financiers and you need to provide for your own family. Courage, (so much) hard work and determination can get you a long way – but ultimately it is down to us the community to choose where to spend our money and make sure Jam cafe is with us for the long term. I’ll see you at the quiz night!