I want to tell you about a new hang out I have discovered; it’s a cafe called the ‘Croissant of Inequality’. It’s been open about seven months now and is what you might call a community cafe. Most of the staff working there are volunteers, food is homemade and very reasonably priced and it acts as a hub of activity for both local people and those involved in a community project called Kensington Vision which also run a bike shop, Liverpool community radio, digital training courses and lots more to boot. I have blogged about Kensington Vision and its founder Steve Faragher in previous blogs, in which i outlined some of the challenges affecting people who lived in Kensington. The Liverpool economy has changed a lot in the last decade or two and it as re-invented itself as a desirable destination for the young; whether students at one of the three universities, shoppers at the L1 shopping centre or for weekend getaways for clubbers and stag/hen doo’s, these are some of the ingredients in this new hip Liverpool. There is however a large population of people living nearby who have remained stubbornly resistant of this new dynamism, more akin to the Liverpool that was much of my adult life, where people had few options for work but to leave town, public services were overstretched serving an aging population and a declining population of several generations dependant on welfare handouts.
When you see how these areas of deprivation are mapped out within Liverpool as a whole it shows up as a crescent shape. For a while, Steve and his colleagues who were delivering services for people in this area bleakly coined the phrase as the ‘Crescent of Deprivation’. When this pun wore thin it re-emerged as the ‘Croissant of Inequality’-to me a more playful description. It is poking fun at that most bourgeois of icons from the ‘80’s the croissant-an era when Yosser Hughes was looking for a job and the scouser jokes about track suit wearing thieves also began to emerge. I first heard Steve use the phrase as a punch line to a joke he was delivering when he was doing stand-up comedy. It got a good laugh from the audience of locals at the night organised by the Comedy Trust that I have also blogged about previously. Well the name has now been recycled for use as the name of Kensington vision’s latest project-the community cafe.
Its also going to be the venue for Pets and pals latest project. As the main organiser for the community dog walks I have found that the ability to follow the walk with a cuppa and a chat can make the difference between the success or failure of these activities. To date our walks in Kensington has not found a dog friendly cafe that makes the walks successful in bad weather. Talking this over with Steve he suggested we organise a dog-walk taht would meet at the COI, go for a walk and return there afterwards, for a brew on them no less. It’s to begin on the 23rd of august. Our event is just one of such activities that have developed in the short time the cafe has been opened. On Monday they have a knit and a natter, Friday they have chess club and a monthly book club has just started. Wendy is the cafe co-ordinator and in addition to supporting the volunteers learning to prepare and serve food she is also on the lookout for developing a program of activities she thinks would work well in the space. As a regular there now I have begun to notice a familiar response from Wendy to suggestions made on this subject- ‘mmm.. that sounds interesting!’ which could be a good phrase to describe how I feel about the place, always something new happening, new people, check it out, I think you’ll find it interesting too.
When you see how these areas of deprivation are mapped out within Liverpool as a whole it shows up as a crescent shape. For a while, Steve and his colleagues who were delivering services for people in this area bleakly coined the phrase as the ‘Crescent of Deprivation’. When this pun wore thin it re-emerged as the ‘Croissant of Inequality’-to me a more playful description. It is poking fun at that most bourgeois of icons from the ‘80’s the croissant-an era when Yosser Hughes was looking for a job and the scouser jokes about track suit wearing thieves also began to emerge. I first heard Steve use the phrase as a punch line to a joke he was delivering when he was doing stand-up comedy. It got a good laugh from the audience of locals at the night organised by the Comedy Trust that I have also blogged about previously. Well the name has now been recycled for use as the name of Kensington vision’s latest project-the community cafe.
Its also going to be the venue for Pets and pals latest project. As the main organiser for the community dog walks I have found that the ability to follow the walk with a cuppa and a chat can make the difference between the success or failure of these activities. To date our walks in Kensington has not found a dog friendly cafe that makes the walks successful in bad weather. Talking this over with Steve he suggested we organise a dog-walk taht would meet at the COI, go for a walk and return there afterwards, for a brew on them no less. It’s to begin on the 23rd of august. Our event is just one of such activities that have developed in the short time the cafe has been opened. On Monday they have a knit and a natter, Friday they have chess club and a monthly book club has just started. Wendy is the cafe co-ordinator and in addition to supporting the volunteers learning to prepare and serve food she is also on the lookout for developing a program of activities she thinks would work well in the space. As a regular there now I have begun to notice a familiar response from Wendy to suggestions made on this subject- ‘mmm.. that sounds interesting!’ which could be a good phrase to describe how I feel about the place, always something new happening, new people, check it out, I think you’ll find it interesting too.