CHINNOR’S NEW CAFÉ THE WEE BOOKSHOP by Andrew Winterbottom

I am sitting down inside The Wee Bookshop and Café. And I can honestly say it feels exactly as I imagined it last year when I dreamed up what I wanted to be a new way for my charity Fight Bladder Cancer to fund its activities.

To make an impact, my wife Tracy and I realised that we had to change the way charities think about their space on our high streets. Now we’re open for business, I can see Chinnor really is the unlikely place for this mini revolution.

Our idea for The Wee Bookshop and Café started with a feeling that our high streets are changing. We wanted to be more than ‘another retail space taken over by a charity’. To me, it was important that our space became something the people of Chinnor needed and wanted. The business idea was simple enough: if we provide the food, drinks and a nice relaxing space for villagers, then we’ll earn their loyalty as customers and make money for the charity. It’s a simple as that.

Looking at it now I believe we have created a real community asset. A place to meet and mingle or, to put it another way, to feed and read. Since we opened we’ve been working flat out and there have been people queuing out the door on occasions. That is so pleasing.

A few years ago I could not have imagined that I would soon be running a charity or opening a cool café. Back then I was an architect designing theme parks all over the world. My own diagnosis of bladder cancer, with a chance of survival at a mere 15% along with my experience as a patient made me realise there is serious work to be done providing support for people with this type of cancer and their families and friends. My life changed then and what began with fairly small ambitions has grown into a national charity.

To do the work needs money, so I have applied my own eye to making the Wee Bookshop and Café stand out. I like to think people will see this a great bookshop and café before realising that it is in fact a charity shop.

Inside we have lined the walls with pre-loved books and it is bright and stylish. However, it’s the aroma of freshly made coffee which I believe gives it real character.

It’s a passion of mine that charity shops simply shouldn’t be boring. I think lots of people in the charity sector realise their retail space needs to provide a great service and add value to our high street. I hope people will come in here, like the café and want to come back because of what we provide to them, not because we are a charity

We have certainly set out to make this an enterprise which can compete with anything on the high street. We have looked carefully at the food we are offering and we’re secured what I believe is one of the best ranges of coffee available anywhere. Every taste from the strongest to the mildest and all things in between.

Beside the café tables we’ve added a comfortable sofa area and a magical children’s space. If I wasn’t so busy with the charity I like think I’d spend my time browsing along the bookshelves. And I never stop smiling when our own miniature railway chugs into action along the top of the shelves. It’s my little tribute to the heritage steam railway we have in the village.

It is important we are a success. Fight Bladder Cancer has become a national charity because demand for our support reached far beyond our Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire roots. There are 10,000 people diagnosed with the cancer each year. Whilst two thirds are men, it is amongst women that the disease is rising. We are hoping the bookshop and café will make a big contribution to running our information and support services.

The Wee Bookshop And Café is on Station Road, Chinnor.

It is open from 8am until 5pm Monday – Saturday and 10am until 4pm Sunday.

Find out more about The Wee Bookshop And Café contact bookshop@fightbladdercancer.co.uk