New community hub launches in Wirral

Wirral has welcomed a new, first of its kind community hub which has revolutionised the role of the local pub in today’s challenging society.

A first of its kind community pub has opened in Wallasey, Wirral. Merseyside Woman Of The Year 2020, Michelle Leatham, has fused her Building Bridges community CIC with the Rose & Crown pub to create a concept that revolutionises the role of a pub in today’s challenging society.

Michelle has recently taken over the pub, located on Poulton Road, having owned Building Bridges in Birkenhead for the past four years. At Building Bridges, she created a community hub that offered a social supermarket, a donations-based salon and holistic therapy service, kids clubs, support groups, an additional needs multisensory cafe and more. She then went on to open two more hubs in Redditch.

Now owner of the newly named The Crown Community Hub, Michelle will offer all the typical pub activities there such as live entertainment, bingo, Play Your Cards Right, pool and darts teams, live sport and food but it will also offer some vital services to serve the Wirral community. The venue is, in essence, becoming a cross between a pub and a community centre.

Michelle is bringing to the pub many of the things her Building Bridges community centre offered. There will be a social supermarket open Weds, Sat and Sun from 10am — 12pm, offering quality food, drink, clothing and more for a hugely discounted price as well as a donations based salon and holistic therapy service.

The project will offer support groups, pamper packs for domestic violence victims, free hampers to families in need, affordable movie nights, free Christmas dinners and they will be offering heating, toast, tea, coffee and television for £1 every day so people don’t need to use their heating. There will also be parties for children and coach trips to places such as Chester Zoo.

Michelle said: “We’re living in difficult times and it’s time to bring pubs back to their original purpose — to be community hubs and meeting places that help, support and bring people together. We’ve been doing great things at the Building Bridges centres, helping all sorts of people — not just those struggling on benefits — and when the pub became available I thought about merging the two.”

She continued: “Unfortunately many people suffer in silence as they are often too proud to come to places like Building Bridges — they worry about the stigma of ‘handouts’. A pub is a very social place though so we’re hoping that through the pub environment we can help even more people — combining all the fun pub activities with community outreach activities goes hand in hand really well.”

Michelle has developed an incredible reputation in the local community through Building Bridges, winning Merseyside Woman Of The Year in 2020 and many others such as a Mecca Bingo Community Award and Redditch Business Awards Charity Of The Year. She is looking to bring all that knowledge and expertise to the new project, whilst bringing in her existing network at the same time.

Michelle explained: “This project is a huge one and I cannot do it alone. I’m about to embark upon a big refurb including replacing the windows, a new kitchen, painting and re-decorating and making the back yard a hidden gem. The project is all about community so I’m relying on the help of the local community and also The Prince’s Trust kids. It’s going to be a real team effort but it will be so worth it!”

She continued: “Young people will be at the forefront of the project as they are the future. I’ll be bringing over the young people from Building Bridges and also getting local kids involved in the project — teaching them about the importance of community and working together to create a better society. We’ll also be sponsoring local football teams — both boys and girls and getting them down here.”

The Crown Community Hub is now open and some of the activities have already started — with a big refurb soon underway and more and more developments coming soon. Anyone wanting to get involved, find out more or learn about what’s on can contact Michelle directly or via the hub’s Facebook page.

The Rose & Crown Community Pub / 325-327 Poulton Road, Wallasey, CH44 4DE / 0151 638 3318

To find out what’s on or to get involved call Michelle on 07490477053 or follow The Crown Community Hub on FACEBOOK!

Check out The Crown Community Hub on FACEBOOK!