Sappho's Cafe & Community Space

Aim

Sappho's is a new cafe and community space for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies. A place for community, creativity, and local heritage.

Sappho's is a new LGBTQ+ community cafe and cultural space opening on Bretonside, built with queer people and their allies in mind.

The cafe and community space will be open 7 days a week, offering high-quality coffee, quality cakes and snacks and a simple food menu of soups and quick takeaway options. At the same time, we will host events that the community would like to see.

With queer spaces, people have increasingly said the same thing - too many of them are centred around just nightlife, and that doesn't work for everyone. Young people, queer families, neurodivergent residents and older LGBTQ+ people often have nowhere to go during the day and into the evening. Plymouth is lacking a creative space where LGBTQ+ individuals can be their authentic selves, and Sappho's has been built to fill that gap.

LGBTQIA+ venues are also closing at an alarming rate. In Plymouth, most recently, one of the most beloved and oldest queer spaces, The Swallow pub (next door to Sappho's), has closed down. Worryingly, there are now no queer venues open to the community 7 days a week and into the evening in the city. 

Sappho's has evolved directly from several years of grassroots activity within Minerva Cafe, whose old unit we are taking over. Everything, from the Queer District Collective's First Thursday arts programme and the work of various community archives, which focus on stories from within Bretonside and the wider Plymouth area, has contributed to the opening of the space. This has provided us with strong foundations, a community that was already familiar with Minerva as an LGBTIQ+ friendly venue due to our efforts, and a well-established coffee spot already in place, which is encouraging for commercial viability.

Sappho's is being delivered in three phases: 

1. A Warm & Welcome Space.

2. A Community Cafe.

3. A Cultural Space for Community Archives.

Here's the plan:

1. We are already open as a Warm & Welcome Space, in collaboration with Pride in Plymouth, with this specific project running until March 2026. This allows us to gently build up our volunteer base and create a space where anyone can drop in for connection or support. It also enables us to further understand community needs before we officially open our doors.

2. We hope to soft-launch a Community Cafe element in late December/early January.

3. A Cultural Space for Community Archives. Building on work already explored as part of Warm & Welcome Spaces, we plan to host community archives on a rotating basis starting in spring 2026. We will also look to continue to use the space to host the First Thursday arts programme.

Bretonside is already widely recognised as Plymouth's emerging LGBTQ+ oriented/cultural/global majority/freedom district, and the response to Sappho's has shown how ready people are for a space like this.

Every donation made through this Crowdfunder, we hope, will be matched by Plymouth City Council's City Change Fund, meaning your support could go twice as far. You'll be helping us open a space that isn't centred around just drinking alcohol, and supports local cultural activities, laying the groundwork for community archiving that preserves and celebrates the city's local and queer heritage.

If you can donate, thank you! If you can't right now, spreading the word and sharing this page is just as important. Please copy and paste https://crowdfunder.co.uk/sapphos-community and send it to three people if you can.

Together, we can create a space where people feel safe, valued, and connected - further building a long-term queer cultural home in Plymouth.

Project funding breakdown:

All the below are approximate costs in GBP and are subject to quotes changing: 

200 - AC/heating maintenance

1000 - flooring improvements

814.80 - commercial fridge

838.80 - commercial freezer

1800 - initial stock requirements

3450 - initial rent, deposit, and solicitor fees

600 - coffee counter (adjustments to donated unit)

1000 - signage installation requirements for the space

400 - art commission for the space

600 - graphic design and installation requirements

500 - paint, safety equipment, fire safety, and health and safety equipment

2100 - coffee grinder

250 - coffee machine service and installation.

Thank you for reading and for any support you can offer! It would mean the world to many of us to make this space a reality.

PS. You'll notice we haven't asked for rewards from our amazing small biz community for this project. Due to the time of year and current economic challenges, we would like to ask you to instead consider supporting them over the coming weeks - small businesses need our support now more than ever <3

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made