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55 East - East Street Community Enterprise Hub
London, England, United Kingdom
Aim
We are raising £20,000 to launch 55 East, our new community enterprise hub on one of London's historic markets streets.
South London Needs A Community Enterprise Hub
We are raising £20,000 to launch 55 East, our new community enterprise hub on one of South London's historic markets streets, East Street. The funds will help with costs of running open access enterprise programmes for local people who want to test out their business ideas. The funds will also go towards employing a Change Please barista, who has already been on a 6-month training programme and is ready to find work locally.
What's the problem?
Walworth and East Street is known for its diversity and strong sense of community. But the area is now experiencing dramatic change. In the last 10 years, major housing estates were demolished, uprooting the local community. We surveyed 40 local market traders and shop owners and learned they lost between 30-50% of their local customer base when the housing blocks came down. With this change however, comes new opportunity, as over 10,000 people will soon come to this area through the provision of new homes by social and private landlords. The area’s newest transformation will be bringing new customers to East Street, and many of the market traders and local businesses will have to adapt aspects of their business to be resilient to this change and seize the opportunities it presents.
Locals looking to start a business are also going to be faced with challenges. In fact, 9 in 10 people will fail due to:
- A lack of support
- The isolation and stress of 'having to make it on your own'
- Lacking the right business skills and expertise
- Limited spaces to trial products and services
South London, and specifically in and around East Street, is running out of space for local people to try new retail or entertainment concepts. We want to change that! Hatch’s mission is to support 1000 entrepreneurs in South London by 2020 through enterprise training programmes and events.
Our solution
Hatch Enterprise, one of the UK’s leading community enterprise charities, has been given three unused shops, by Peabody Trust, which are located at 53-63 East Street. Set to open in early November 2017, the community enterprise concept, - 55 East -, will celebrate local entrepreneurship and support the area through its affordable Co-working Space (55 East Studio), a Community Events & Retail Hub (55 East Lounge) and a Community-run Cafe (55 East Kitchen). The Hub will become a vibrant space for people to get support with both new and existing enterprises, try out pop-up concepts and participate in the diverse events and activities going on within it. Historically, the market has served as a lifeline to the community, an asset we strive to emulate through our community-facing services and opportunities.
How we going to spend the money we raise
- Enterprise Training for 20 local entrepreneurs who want to test their business/ social enterprise ideas
- Change Please Barista (Part-time position, paying at least London Living Wage to a recently trained Barista)
- Monthly events, engaging the local community through art, music and food
- Stretch Target: We want to host 5 x Pop-up events and retail concepts for local entrepreneurs who want to stage a 55 East "take-over", enabling them to get the space for free for a week
55 East Studio
The Studio will be a co-working space for around 20 people, and act as a satellite hub where Hatch will offer training for over 60 entrepreneurs each year. It will provide an affordable meeting and coworking space to bring people together to nurture ideas and deliver projects for the local area. There will also be a business support desk where local shop owners and market traders can access helpful resources and meet local entrepreneurs.
- Hatch Launchpad: An early stage 6-week programme delivering personal coaching, business workshops and a testing ground for new business ideas. We will support 30 people through the Launchpad.
- Hatch Incubator: An immersive 12-week programme providing workshops, 1-2-1 business coaching, mentoring and access to workspace. We will be supporting at least 30 social entrepreneurs, who have already started their business, through the Hatch Incubator.
- Hatch Community: We run monthly meet-ups offering high value workshops to continue to foster a growing community of entrepreneurs and supporters in South London. We engage between 200 – 300 entrepreneurs every year, and with 55 East hope to surpass 500.
55 East Kitchen
Our Kitchen will be a community cafe, run professionally, but with social impact at its heart. It offers local market traders and Hatch entrepreneurs a space to test and sell their food products. 55 East Kitchen will offer employment to 4 - 6 people from the local community, including baristas who have completed Change Please training. We will celebrate the area’s local heritage by hosting 'kitchen-take-overs', allowing people to delight the community with food pop-ups. The Kitchen will follow 3 simple objectives:
- Sustainably (upcycled) or locally sourced materials (fit-out) & local staff to run the cafe
- High quality, speciality barista-style coffee (Making East Street a destination for people )
- Foster community engagement through 'kitchen takeovers'
55 East Lounge
Our Lounge will be a pop-up retail and event space, bringing new ideas and activities to the historic market street. 55 East Lounge will also host South London’s first public ‘Living Room’, a space for conversations, games, insights and learning. It will offer a place to relax from the hustle and bustle of East Street Market, but will also run a varied programme of events from yoga classes and mummy and me meetups to thought-provoking talks and workshop.
Hatch partners, consisting of alumni as well as local organisations, will play a role in programming the Lounge, allowing them to test new concepts and ideas. Entrepreneurs we have worked with such as Absolute Alchemy, Leefest, Built By Us, Agenci, Revive FDN, Camberwell Fair and many others have already expressed interest in using the Lounge. We are also discussing opportunities with new potential partners such as Cool Tan Arts, Community Action Southwark, Latin Elephant, Walworth Society and Pembroke House.
Rewards
- Become a Patron: Want to enjoy bottomless coffee, host your own events and be revered for your contribution to making 55 East a reality? Check out our Patron Awards!
- Sponsor an Entrepreneur: Do you want to directly help one of our entrepreneurs who have registered with us to get business support?
- Co-working Rewards: Enjoy limited edition packages to join our co-working space.
- Host an Event: Planning a birthday, a book launch, a workshop or just want to 'hang out' in our Lounge? You can book one of many packages to hire our space on an hourly or daily basis.
Original South London Tee!
Original South of the River postcards and tote bag!
Charlie Chaplin Inspired Mug
Learn more about the challenges that East Street market traders and businesses are facing.
Press
This project successfully funded on 6th December 2017