The 8th Day Cafe, Manchester

8th Day Cafe

Shop	(0161) 273 4878
Café	(0161) 273 1850

 

The Eighth Day Co-operative Ltd
111 Oxford Road
Manchester
M1 7DU 

The 8th Day Cafe does the following Creative Cafe projects:

• displays the work of local artists
• hosts a knitting club
• offers live music

The 8th Day Cafe

The Oyster Project, Lewes

All Saints Centre‎

Friars' Walk

Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2LE

01273 486 391

The Oyster Project features the following creative events:

• Accessible Cinema
• Annual Family Camp
• Bonsai & Orchid group
• Cooking Club
• DJ Skills
• Garden Buddy/LOAP
• Knitters and Weavers
• Lewes Community Internet
• LlewesTV
• Move 'n Groove
• Our Histories group

Teacup and Cakes

55 Thomas Street, M4 1NA

I came across this when someone replied to a tweet I’d posted calling for other examples of Creative Cafés. I’d asked whether there were people who wrote in cafés. A writer replied that she thought she might like to write here.

Teacup is situated in Manchester’s atmospheric Northern Quarter, in street that is awash with distinctive cafés and restaurants. Teacup is a very apt name. The café specialises in all sorts of teas. Its cakes, too, are delicious.

Is it a creative café, though? It’s certainly not the place to go if you want some peace and quiet. The place buzzes. I met a friend there and we were shown to a table straight away.   The whole time we were there people were arriving and leaving and when we finally left, there was a queue. But sometimes creative practitioners want to get away from the isolation and be in with the crowd. It would certainly provide a blocked writer with plenty of stories.

It isn’t cheap. Our round of two speciality teas and two slices of cake came to about £15.00. But this included a refill of the teapots which provided a couple of cups anyway.  There was an element, too, of rent-a-table. My friend and I were there from three until four forty. It was a little like the Viennese coffee houses are now. Full, good quality, and with a broad hint of the artistic exchange that used to go on. The difference here is that the hint is for potential artistic exchange.       

That creative interaction is visible. A couple of people on their own were surfing the net. Another couple were discussing a theatre project. My friend and I were meeting anyway to discuss logistics and marketing for our choir’s events. Good creative practitioner stuff, then.

In any case, if providing cake and tea is an art form, and I think it is, this café is abundantly creative.                  

The Ginger Pig Hoxton Revisited

I spent an extremely pleasant lunchtime yesterday at TheGinger Pig in Hoxton. I was due at the Ministry of Stories for an afternoon session and it’s always a good idea to get there in plenty of time.  It’s not as if Hoxton is dull. The Ginger Pig provided the sustenance and Shoreditch Library a space to work for an hour.

The Ginger Pig did not disappoint. I tried to order something light as I was meeting my son and daughter for dinner at an American diner later.  It’s not always easy to find something not too filling at TGP but I settled for a small portion of soup from the dinner menu. It was home-made and came with hunks of crusty white bread and with whole slices of vegetables in it. I drank freshly squeezed orange juice. The whole lot came to just £7.00. It’s always cash only, note. The food is homemade and is always cooked to order. 

It’s usually peaceful there but not dead. At another table a couple of men were discussing a documentary they were making. Obviously a pair of freelancers.  A couple of retired women picked up some of the pamphlets about forthcoming arts events. It’s good to see here that both mainstream and fringe art events are highlighted here.

I spent my time working on my laptop as I waited for my food to arrive – there is ample room at the tables.  The free Wi-Fi is a boon. There are also plenty of magazines and newspapers to read. The atmosphere is encouraging. If you are a creative practitioner or a lover of the arts and / or good food you are welcome there.

I did some writing.  Writing in a café again. Now I feel even more like a real creative practitioner. 

The Creative Café Manager

I’m probing into the Creative Café idea a little further. Some of the cafés in the project always were “creative”.  Why is that so? Did the managers / owners proactively seek that or did it just happen? Does it take a certain sort of manager / owner to hold that sort of vision?

I’ve put together a set of questions I’d like to ask some Creative Café facilitators. If you are such a person, do send me your answers at g.james1 at salford.ac.uk, along with a link to your café and a photo and if you wish also a photo of yourself. Miss out any questions you’re not comfortable with and add in some of your own if you feel so inclined. Do also feel free to reorder them if you think it appropriate. If you’re not an owner manager, but know of a café that ought to be in the project, then do pass this on to them.

Which “creative” activities does your café promote?

How did this come about?

Which activities are the most successful?    

Are there any other activities you’d like to try?

Tell us something about the people who visit the café.

Have you held a particularly successful event?

How do the food and creative activities interact?

Which benefits, if any, do you gain by being a creative café?

Is there any help you would like from the project?      

Do you have a funny, interesting or moving story to tell us?

I look forward to your responses.            

Writers in Cafés 1 Judy Kendall

I often write in cafes - places where I can be anonymous, invisible, busy. I like to remain silent, apart and yet coast on the conversation and buzz of everyone and everything around. Music, good music, extraordinary and unexpected music, really really helps. I like the serendipity, what goes on outside the little pool of quiet framed between my cup of coffee and my plate of cake. It takes me back to my childhood, where I was one of six close siblings, immersed in a world of books to a background of family noise. Even now I am very skilled at concentrating in the middle of conversations, and that includes conversations in which I am supposed to be taking part. Sometimes I am a bit too good at tuning out. And, bolstered by the noise, I feel at home. This is where I most readily lose myself.

I tend to write by hand in cafes. I proofread there. I write lists, ideas, first drafts of short pieces - whole haiku. More often I redraft. I like to take printouts of computer work and eye them with my special cafe eye. It's a good place to rejig visual pieces, look over short stories as if it wasn't me that wrote them, pick apart poems.

My most regular haunt is in Todmorden, where I live. I visit this cafe mainly in late afternoon - not too many people, lower noise levels, mellow music. It is when the cafe staff are winding down, when a table by the window might be free.

I could be totally anonymous here. The staff might recognise me and have a word as I buy my coffee but no one knows my name. Well no one did. That's not the case any more. Now I am Judy Poet. Incredible Edible Poet. Todmorden Poet Laureate. And it's nice. And I do still have the space to settle down to write. But I am no longer invisible. The anonymity is gone. 

My family think it's great I've got to know more people. I like it too. But if I want to reclaim that precious anonymity I might have go further afield, perhaps as far as Hebden Bridge....

 

http://judykendall.blogspot.co.uk     

amazon.com/author/judykendall     

http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/blogs/incredible-edible-poet-laureate