Keevie and Riley, members of The Fat Pigeon, sat down with Hope4All to talk honestly about what it’s like growing up in Pennywell and what’s missing for young people there.
Riley reflected on what the old Pennywell youth project used to offer: support for young people who are socially isolated, a place to spend time, and opportunities linked to employment and volunteering. Since it’s closure, many young people have been left without somewhere to go. Riley spoke about being “trapped” – with limited opportunities, low attainment at school, and transport that connects the area to the city centre but cuts young people off from opportunities elsewhere. Keevie shared how young people in Pennywell are often labelled and judged. She talked about the experience of being branded as “Pennywell kids”, where young people are assumed to be badly behaved and treated differently because of where they are from.
Together, they spoke up about how easy it can feel to give up when opportunities feel out of reach and support is limited. Out of these conversations, and their shared passions, an idea began to take shape.
An idea rooted in lived experience
Keevie and Riley’s project is centred around opening a young person’s café in Pennywell, based at Hope4All. The café is designed to run after school, creating a welcoming social space where young people can spend time, feel supported, and connect with others. Over time, the vision is for it to grow into something that offers skills development and opportunities alongside that social space.
Keevie and Riley explained that the café will: “provide good quality baked goods and freshly ground sustainable coffee for a reasonable price. We are going to eventually provide training for both baking and barista skills to build skills and experience for upcoming opportunities.”
The idea is personal as both Keevie and Riley experienced social isolation themselves as young people, particularly after their local youth provision closed: “We both suffered with self-isolation as young people. We lacked a safe space as our local project had been shut down. Due to this, we had nowhere to go, or do, which led us both to self-isolating, which led to very poor mental health. We lacked any training opportunities near us. We wanted to be able to provide this for others who suffer with the same problem.”
A café felt like the right fit, not just because of the skills they already had, but because of what Pennywell needs: “We feel like there isn’t a café in Pennywell that values their customers as much as we do. We volunteered for Hope4All for 3 years, which was a community-based project, that seriously cared deeply about everyone within Pennywell.”
The café is located near three schools and alongside other services – including health, wellbeing and community organisations – the café is well placed to connect young people to support, whether directly or through signposting.
Turning passion into action
Both Keevie and Riley bring strong skills to the project with experience in making coffee for baristas and cooking and baking.
The two described the planning process as challenging but positive and along the way, they developed new skills in budgeting, planning, food hygiene, business management, customer service, and problem-solving – alongside building confidence and learning how to adapt when things don’t go to plan.
Despite challenges – particularly navigating the business side of things and building confidence around social interaction – both have seen huge personal growth since starting the project: “Riley had a fear of socialising, which made talking to customers and doing interviews very difficult, [this has] gotten a lot better since starting.”
We asked what the best thing was about working on the project: “We’re accomplishing our dreams. We met amazing people who truly care about our business. We’ve made friends. We were able to turn our passion into a reality and provide support that we didn’t have. We’ve been amazingly thankful for the support and trust that everyone has had for us so far.”
When asked what they’re most proud of, their answer reflects both ambition and humility: “We’re proud to be able to make our dreams come true. We’re also proud of our accomplishments we’ve made so far. We’re proud of the small impact we’ve made on our community and can’t wait to do better. We’re also proud of everything we’ve produced.”
Their message to other young people in Pennywell is simple but powerful: “You’re not alone. Coming from a background of being afraid of doing what you want to do because of judgement, go for it. It’s your dream not anyone else’s.”
And their advice to young people considering taking on the KEY+ Challenge captures the heart of their journey: “You shouldn’t feel limited for your dreams. If that’s what you want, do it. Nothing starts perfect, and you will have plenty setbacks, but you shouldn’t let it ruin your dreams.”
*Latte photo credit: Becca Matthews on Wikimedia Commons
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The Key