A coffee shop and café which strives to improve social inclusion and serve its community has been nominated as a finalist in the Lancashire Telegraph’s Best Coffee Shop competition.
Number 1 Coffee Shop in Bolton Road, Darwen, is one of 10 finalists in our competition to crown the best coffee shop in our region.
The business is run by Joanne Bates and her husband Steve, with Joanne acting as an unpaid director due to being unable to work.
Joanne told the Lancashire Telegraph how the business “isn’t for us but for the community” and about the different initiatives they run that make it so much more than a coffee shop.
“We’re not just a café, we’re a community hub,” she said.
“We do art classes, we’ve done British Sign Language classes, we even do doggy first aid.
READ MORE: Lancashire Telegraph Best Coffee Shop top 10 revealed
“One of our most used groups is our friendship group on a Friday. It’s from 2.30pm to 4pm during the winter and we have a lot of older people who come in to connect.
“We have a random acts of kindness board where people can leave money and the homeless can come in and get a free meal.”
Joanne says in the 18 months Number 1 Coffee Shop has been running it’s been an emotional journey.
Due to a disability, she is not on the staff, but her husband Steve has business qualifications and Joanne herself has a health and special needs background.
She says this will help their chances of becoming a Community Interest Company in the near future, which is a type of limited company that operates to benefit communities rather than private shareholders.
Despite a tough year, culminating in the news they were going to lose some of their space due to their landlord securing planning permission for flats, the future is looking bright.
Joanne said: “It’s been a very hard year but even becoming a finalist in this competition makes it all worthwhile. I’d love to know who nominated us to say thank you.
“We’ve got six staff members currently and we’re hoping to take on an apprentice. We’re getting a qualified chef in January as well. It’s all about including the community and improving life chances for people.”
When asked what winning would mean to Joanne, her simple answer was: “Everything.”
“It would raise our profile in order to help the community more,” she said.
“It’s not about raising the profile for us, but it’s raising the profile so that maybe bigger businesses know we’re here and they might help us.
“It would mean everything.”
Over the coming days, we will be featuring each of the finalists in the Best Coffee Shop competition.
To vote, pick up a paper copy of the Lancashire Telegraph. Once all votes have been counted a winner will be announced next month.
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