Challenged in the Coffeehouse
Starbucks and the Royal Society of Arts have combined on the new ‘Coffeehouse Challenge’ initiative. It aims to recreate the spirit of the eighteenth century coffeehouses – centres of conversation, creativity and (occasionally) conspiracy.
The twenty-first century version aspires to find ‘common ground’ in British communities, or at least those which boast a Starbucks café.
Bankside’s New Globe Walk branch of Starbucks was the location for the very first Coffeehouse Challenge in May, when television and Radio London personality Vanessa Feltz gamely tried to whip a motley selection of local politicians and activists into order. Participants debated how all sections of the North Southwark community could be heard and encouraged to exert their democratic rights, and how politicians could be both visible and accountable.
Better Bankside worked with the Bankside Residents’ Forum to deliver a second Coffeehouse Challenge, this time in Starbucks’ Clink Street branch. The objective was to bring local businesses and residents together to debate issues of common concern. Facilitated by Ros Taylor, the participants quickly arrived at two issues which they then debated in small groups: the urgent need for the resolution of certain issues around cleanliness and waste management, and the need for some kind of ‘cultural passport’, allowing the local community (both businesses and residents) to access the many local visitor attractions at preferential rates.
Although it is difficult for an ad hoc group to turn into an action group, Starbucks and the RSA are offering grants of up to £5,000 to allow bright ideas to begin to turn into reality. The Clink Street meeting however agreed
1) to produce notes of the meeting and distribute them as widely as possible and
2) to lobby the various agencies in the area.
You can read the notes of the meeting here.
Starbucks Social Responsibility
http://starbucks.co.uk/en-GB/_Social+Responsibility/
Royal Society of Arts’ Coffeehouse Challenge
http://www.rsa.org.uk/CHC2005/
