Places of Welcome

PLACES OF WELCOME IS A growing network of local community groups, including churches, where people feel safe to connect, belong and get involved.

With over 900 venues across the UK, each Place of Welcome is unique, but all provide a place for people to connect with one another, find belonging, and offer gifts and skills that interest them.

The Places of Welcome network is supported by Church Urban Fund.

Places of Welcome case studies

Holbrook Heart Cafe is a Place of Welcome based at St Mark’s Church in Holbrook, offering a friendly and warm space in the heart of the community and serving homemade cakes and hot drinks, all free of charge. The cafe has developed lots of local partnerships and provides signposting as well as hosting a clothes and a toy exchanges.

Churchwarden Shirley coordinates the Holbrook Heart Café.

“We want people to be welcomed at the café and just be here and enjoy. It’s all free and we wouldn’t want cost to ever be a barrier so it will always be free. The café started as a result of a word from God during a prayer meeting.

“Seeing what has happened here and how the café has developed over the last three years has been a good experience. We’ve seen people becoming more comfortable in the church space as they have come along to the café.

“I don’t know where we are going but God does. I wouldn’t be here if God hadn’t said you’re going to lead that café because I didn’t know that was what I was going to be doing when I was retired. It’s making a difference for people and reaching as many people as we can would be my hope.”

Life with a young baby can be isolating. For Jay, when things became really tough, the Place of Welcome at her local church became a lifeline.

“I went through a pretty hard time and started coming to the café every week. I met people who’ve become my friends. I shared my story and people listened and offered support. It’s helped me combat a few things in my life.

The café is in the church space and I was made to feel really welcome. People made me feel wanted. To be honest, that in itself was helpful and encouraging. They stepped up when it mattered. It made me see hope, which I needed.”

Les is another regular visitor to the Place of Welcome after being referred by his GP.

“I live on my own now and coming to the café came about when I was talking to the social prescribers up at the GP surgery. I’m an ex chef and I told them I’d like to help people in some way. I’ve learnt a lot in my time and helping people eat well on a budget is something I know how to do.

“When you go to a new place you can sometimes get ignored but not here! Someone will always come up and welcome you and invite you to join them, I really felt this was a place where I could get involved.

“I’ve been coming along to café for three years now. You can come here and it’s warm you can have a cup of tea or coffee and there are cakes. I’d seen what they were serving and I started to introduce a savoury option with my cheese and onion tartlets, then I introduced sausage rolls. Then I asked a few people about curry and now I regularly make vegetable curry tartlets.”

At another Place of Welcome in Leicestershire which also provides a free hot meal and a food pantry, Colin found support, purpose and faith after facing bereavement and a period of homelessness.

“I’ve been in the accommodation about three months now and it’s a shock to the system when you’ve been living in a tent for a year. You’ve suddenly got heating and a roof over your head and there’s no rats, so you know your food is safe if you’ve got any in. That’s a good thing about this place is they have the little food pantry.

“I’m helping to volunteer now to give back. They’ve helped me so I’m going to help them now. I’ve got the food experience and certificates due to my job and we always help unload the lorry when the food comes and all that.

“I’ve made friends coming to this and then someone asked if I’d like to come to the service one day. The only time I’ve ever been church is when I was at school, and you have to go to carol service every year, everything was so stuffy and horrible. It’s not like that here at all and I love the singing, they’ve given me a Bible which I keep on me.

“I’ve become a Christian and this is now my church on a Sunday. They always say, it’s family here and you are made to be a family. I’m taking baby steps – now a step here, step there, moving forward.”

Back at Holbrook Heart Café, Jo the senior church administrator reflects on the importance of the Place of Welcome to the church and wider community.

“It’s just been phenomenal in the last 12 months in the café really. We have more than 100 people coming along to café regularly.”

“We’re very fortunate we have this accessible modern church building and we want to ensure there is no barrier for people to come along to the café. We’ve grown so much but we do see new people every week, there is a need out there for this kind of café space which is free and open to all.

“People want to feel welcome and have the opportunity just to sit and chat with no judgement or having to belong to the church. We’ve often had people come in and say ‘we’re not part of the church but can we come in?’

“We say yes, of course – we’re open to everyone. I think that welcome is an important thing to remember as people are crying out for stuff like this from across our communities. We have a couple of volunteers each week whose main focus is pastoral and just to sit and chat with people that might be on their own. We’ve heard it can feel very reassuring to people who are new helping them feel comfortable.”