The Bold & Brave Story (so far...) 

When and where? 

Bold & Brave Shop	Bold & Brave Café
Opening Times and Days: 14 Riverside Place, St James St, Taunton, TA1 1JH  Monday - Friday - 9:30am to 5:00pm Saturday - 10:30am - 4:30pm	Opening Times and Days: Taunton Library, Paul St, Taunton TA1 3XZ  Opening - Wednesday 7th June Wednesday - Saturday - 10am - 4pm  Official Launch Date - Saturday 17th June at 1pm

Bold & Brave is an exciting venture, established by Young Somerset, bringing together and providing opportunities for young people and the community. 

 The idea for Bold & Brave began back in 2019 when Young Somerset worked in partnership with sen.se (collaboration of Special Schools in Somerset), on a series of four pop-up shops, which sold quality goods designed and produced by the learners from the special schools. These young people were also given the opportunity to work in the shop to sell their products and serve customers; empowering them to have an active role within their community, whilst gaining essential skills and work experience. 

After several successful pop-up shops and witnessing first-hand the huge positive impact this project had on both the young people and the community, we knew we had to recreate a permanent shop to give this unique opportunity to more young people across Somerset. 

The Bold & Brave shop is a community hub where we work closely with young people, giving them an opportunity to research, design, ethically produce, showcase and sell their own quality products. It is also a space for young people to create products, host workshops, meet with community partners and much more! Within the Bold & Brave shop, young people are part of a work placement programme, receiving mentoring, job coaching and life skills training, whilst gaining retail and production experience. Between October 2021 and May 2023, the shop supported 30 young entrepreneurs to sell their products and hosted almost 40 young people on work experience, many of whom were not in education, employment, or training. We are working with these young people to believe they can achieve and empowering them to put this into action.   

Now, an agreement has been formed with Somerset Council for Bold & Brave to expand and take on the running of the Café at Taunton Library. The café which will open on 7th June 2023, with a launch celebration on the 17th June, will not only provide (reasonably priced) hot and cold drinks, cakes, pastries, cream teas, paninis, and savory snacks, but will also enable us to offer more opportunities, training, and qualifications to local young people. Young people working and volunteering in the café will receive barista training, as well as specialist support to improve their confidence, communication, and further work-place skills. Bold & Brave will also work alongside other local businesses to enable smooth transitions for these young people into paid employment in the hospitality industry. We are also teaming up with local suppliers such as Brazier Coffee Roaster from Wellington and Dough Bakers in Taunton, to provide quality, local food, and drinks.  

Young Somerset are excited for all this venture will involve and are committed to supporting young people, as well as working with the library service and local businesses to improve the offer for library users and increase footfall. 

We’d love to talk with you, so if you’re interested in collaborating and partnering with us, please do get in touch via: [email protected] 

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