Bognor cafe will belong to the community

The Rosie-Lee cafe and none profit association BigLove has big plans for the London Road business which will include a bigger emphasis on community activities.

BigLove director of operations Michael Johnson said: “The Rosie-Lee has been a part of Bognor for many years and when London Road was the main road into Bognor, the cafe flourished.

“We believe that with the right input, we can give the cafe a fresh new start, re-establishing it at the heart of the Bognor community, making it successful once again.”

Mr Johnson will play an active role in the running of the community aspect of the cafe, while day to day operations will be the taken care of by his wife Monica Johnson.

Mr Johnson said: “The cafe will run as a normal between 6.30am and 2.30pm daily, serving the usual breakfasts and lunches.

“But for the remainder of the day we hope to incorporate community based projects and we would like any other services and anybody from our community to come and see if any of the space could be used by them.”

The cafe will be equipped with a small IT suite, which will have free Wi-Fi and free internet access for customers.

The cafe has already received big support from local groups and organisations, something which it is hoped will continue.

“Due to contacts with other services and communications with a wide network of churches, we’re confident that we can attract services and people to the space created here,” said Mr Johnson

The cafe has already got some activities planned, including weekly English lessons with breakfast included for non-English people.

The initiative is being run in partnership with the English for Migrant Workers Project, which was started in March 2007 by qualified ESOL teachers Sarah Paget and Miranda Cormell.

Local artist Lesley Copcutt will also hold an exhibition displaying her most recent work and negotiations with an art and music teacher to provide an additional workshop are underway.

The BigLove association is already established in the community as a social enterprise working with those that struggle with poverty, and the cafe will provide a permanent base for some of the charities work.

Mr Johnson said: “We hope to bring a lot of our existing services here, and we hope to centralise a lot of our work, we also have a number of plans that will directly help the homeless.”

One such idea is a voucher scheme, whereby those in need would be assessed and given a token which would entitle them to a meal in the cafe.

The Rosie-Lee will be available to rent out for a range of events including dinner parties, meetings and society events. Refurbishment work to the cafe is still continuing and the door will be opened on November 1.

An official launch party will be held on November 9, from 6pm to 8pm.

For further information visit www.biglove.org.uk, link can be found at the top righthand side of this page or telephone Michael Johnson on 07504 198116.