Chester Pride Rainbow Café & Community Safe Space

Chester Pride had planned to open the first LGBTQ+ café and safe space operated by a Pride charity in the North West of England, and one of less than 5 in the country, way before Covid struck.

Having crowdfunded and received grant funding from HSBC, the charity this week signed a 5-year lease on the former STA travel shop on Bridge Street to finally open their café and community safe space.  Names were suggested by the public then put to an online vote; after the two most popular names drew a 50/50 split of the vote, the names were merged to create The Rainbow Tea Rooms which will open this May offering a safe space for all people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation or background but with a focus on its LGBTQ+ community, ensuring help, advice and support is on offer alongside a wide range of freshly made lite meals, cakes and drinks from local and independent traders within the Chester area.

The motto “Everything has its Place” will be illustrated throughout the venue by combining old and new items; the café will also hold a dedicated community space that will be used by Chester Pride and available for other charities to use to continue the work they to do for the local Chester community.

The purpose of The Rainbow Tea Rooms is to offer a safe space whilst generating income for the charity to ensure we can continue to run our charitable projects, such as our LGBT+ helpline “Just Ask” and the “Box Project” which offers free condoms and menstrual products at a number of city centre locations. The current pressure on charities to become more self-sufficient has intensified thanks to Covid, when Chester Pride itself also lost out on a lot of key funding, but by creating a trading arm to the charity along with public donations and sponsors, it means the charity can maintain, if not increase, the level of services and events they offer in Chester

“We have worked on this project for 3 years now, to create a café and community safe space for Chester’s LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Whilst some may think, “oh, another coffee shop”, this is not the case. Chester, like other cities is going though huge changes with retail sadly changing for leisure and hospitality units. Our venue will be one of fewer than 5 LGBTQ+ ventures in the whole of the UK, which for a small city shows how progressive Chester and its residents are - none more so than places such as Alexander’s and the Chester Racecourse Holiday Inn which have both donated items of furniture to help get venue off the ground, we also have to thank Allie at Mason Owen, Roslyn at Ashwood Commercial and Simon at Arron and Partners who have all helped us secure the venue.

We have some amazing independent traders in Chester and for me it was key that Pride uses these businesses not only at the Rainbow Tea Rooms but also at our main event in August, which sees Chester Pride turn 10 years old. There we will be putting more of a focus on the local high street which often seems like it’s losing out to bigger cities and out-of-town shopping centres. Having worked in retail across the country, I’ve seen similar size and heritage towns go through the same obstacles as Chester but what makes us different is a number of organisations such as CH1 Bid, We Love Good Times and the individuals such as locally known Tony Chester, who fight for the city and for our independent traders. While we do need the giants on the high street, we also need to support local businesses along with support from government and our local council, and at Pride we plan to use our platform to further this aim” said Chair of Chester Pride Warren Lee Allmark

More information and updates can be found on Chester Pride’s social media platforms.  

UPDATES ON CHESTER PRIDE WILL BE POSTED ON:

WWW.CHESTERPRIDE.CO.UK

OR ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES:

Facebook: ChesterPrideUK

Twitter@Chesterpride

Instagram @Chester_Pride_Official

Chester Pride is an LGBTQ+ focused charity established in 2013. They plan and run the annual Chester Pride event that sees around 15,000 people attend the celebration of diversity. They have also expanded their work to provide charitable projects and services to support the LGBTQ+ community throughout. Their flagship service is the Just Ask helpline that offers support on any LGBTQ+ topic or to any LGBTQ+ person, all year round.

Chester Pride is proud to support the West Cheshire Foodbank as they know that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be vulnerable and in need of support from organisations such as the Foodbank. They also believe in community action and are proud to support other organisations and projects that help a wider community in need of support.