Community cafe bookshop, arts & learning venue

Aim

A cosy community café-bookshop for readers, writers and curious minds.

Our idea

A community café-bookshop in the Calder Valley selling coffee, cakes and carefully curated secondhand books, alongside workshops, author events, creative courses and affordable community arts activities. We have venues in mind and can get this up and running relatively quickly once we hit our goal!

We're Fran and Vicky, and we run a market stall in Todmorden selling secondhand books around a range of genres, with a focus on literary fiction and high quality non-fiction. The eponymous Bertie is based on our own two year old Cavapoo (check out our video!), who's always happy to see you and always curious, and we believe that's the best way to approach life.

This will be a community-focused coffee bookshop with space for writers and artists to meet, where we can run courses, author signings and other events. As well as secondhand books, it'll offer drinks and food and also serve as a venue for those involved in the arts through courses, events, etc. We believe this can become a real asset for both the local community but also the wider arts community - and we need your help to make this happen. We'll be based in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, but also running online events accessible the world over - so just because we're in a single location doesn't mean our reach will be limited! In time, we'd love to see the expansion of this model to other locations around the world, providing the same experience, learning centre and refuge for writers and artists elsewhere.

Why this matters & what this is

We're drowning in the noise of modern life, and we all need an oasis of calm where we can go, sit quietly, reflect and recharge. Libraries do this, but they're not always open and not always as quiet and cosy as they should be. Let's make something else.  At its heart, Bertie and the Book will be a physical space — a cosy café bookshop where people can sit and read without pressure, write without judgement and talk, think, and explore ideas. We'll have 'pay it forward' coffees and cakes for those who can't afford their own. Our secondhand book collection will be available both for sale but also for people to read while in store, and it'll be a mixture of genres that we believe really help feed the brain - everything from literary fiction to history and politics to biography to smart thinking.

We'll also have an event space, available to groups in the evenings. Right now we run a silent bookclub elsewhere in Todmorden and this venue will be perfect for that - but it could also be writing courses, watercolour classes or even photography or sculpting lessons. Essentially, anything with an arts focus: if we can accommodate it then we absolutely will.

We'll offer knowhow and help for writers and artists when it comes to grant funding - so if someone comes in and wants to publish a new journal on, say, environmental writing then we'll do our best to help them work out what sources of funding could be available.

We'll offer courses online too - so people won't need to actually be physically located here to take advantage.

Lastly, we'll also seek to use our profits to offer small grants to those from less well off backgrounds - and people will be able to apply for these online. You're a student who can't afford the main reading material for your Creative Writing course? Don't worry, we've got your back - that kind of thing. 

A wider purpose

This isn’t just about one venue. Everything we build, from workshop formats to funding guides, will be designed to be shared. So even if you never visit in person, you’re still part of it. Backing this project means helping:

• Someone finding the confidence to start writing
• Someone accessing support they didn’t know existed
• Someone realising they’re allowed to take up creative space that isn't just reserved for those from more privileged backgrounds

It's local in form, but wider in intent.

Why us?

Fran has spent over 20 years working in creative industries, helping people find their way into them. And he's seen the same thing, again and again. Talent isn’t the barrier, but access is. He's also seen how much difference the right environment can make — somewhere that feels human, open, and genuinely supportive. Encouragement can go so much further than most people think. He's got a Creative Writing MA from Lancaster and has run writing courses before, as well as having his own stuff published in journals like Litro and The London Magazine. This project is about intentionally creating an environment where people can thrive.

Vicky’s career has been spent mostly in the charity sector building communities and relationships, including running a refugee community centre for a number of years, a major events programme and heritage projects. Since childhood she has had her nose buried in books every day, and loves nothing more than a comfy chair, good coffee, dog snuggles and a decent read. For her, this is about creating somewhere and environment for people to switch off, decompress from the day-to-day, and allow space for those creative shoots to start to grow.

Where your money will go

Our goal is based on detailed budgeting rather than guesswork. It’s designed to cover the initial lease period, core fit-out and furnishing costs, legal and setup expenses, and a modest operating buffer while the venue establishes itself. If we go over our goal that enables us to do even more - get a bigger or better venue, obtain more stock or run more courses, or even offer more micro grants.

Why here?
Well, partly because this is where we live and we're big believers in the idea of start where you are.  There are other reasons, though. We're  25 minutes from Manchester, and just a few miles from Hebden Bridge - both hubs of creativity and the written word. We're in Brontë country,  just a few short miles from the Brontë museum in Haworth. Todmorden also hosts the amazing Todmorden Literature Festival and isn't very far from the likes of the Bradford Literature Festival and Lancaster's amazing LitFest. We believe Todmorden or the surrounding towns (premises depending) is the perfect location for a venue aimed at encouraging those in the arts. And from here we'll run our amazing online courses too, so those of you further afield can still feel included.

Why now?

Spaces like this are disappearing. Independent bookshops are under pressure. Community spaces are shrinking. Creative opportunities are often moving behind paywalls.

At the same time, more people than ever are looking for connection and somewhere to just exist. This is about meeting that moment, that desire from people.

What your support will do

Your backing will help us:

• Secure and fit out the space
• Create a warm, flexible environment for both café and courses
• Launch an initial programme of workshops
• Build accessible resources that can be shared beyond the shop

This is about funding a venue with a purpose.

What you get back

Our reward tiers are designed with our overall purpose in mind - to give something back and help those who need it.

This isn’t just about the material rewards (though there are some thoughtful ones!). It’s about being part of something from the beginning and knowing that, when up and running, the help you provide will go towards making the arts more inclusive. We can't do this without the funding to help, and we'd really love for you to be part of it.

Please note that our reward tiers include physical items. We've put a long stop date of January 2027 for the delivery of our rewards, but we expect t-shirts, tote bags, bookmarks to be sent out within three months of our crowdfunders's closing date.

What if this crowdfunder doesn’t reach its target?

This is a risk - we’d be silly to deny that.  If the crowdfunder doesn’t reach its target then we’ll do what we can with what we’ve got while we continue to raise money through grants and other sources to make the physical premises happen. Pledgers will still get their physical rewards, sent within 90 days of the closing of the project. 

A final thought & thank you!

This project might be local in nature - but our human need to create art is universal. From us, and from Bertie (and his brother and sister!), thank you for taking the time to read this. If this idea resonates with you, we’d love you to be part of it and we'll do our absolute best to make you proud.

This project closed unsuccessfully on 24th June 2026