The cost of living might be biting but, in north Oxfordshire, there’s still one place a drink with friends is affordable: a pint at Banbury local Cheers M’Dears will set you back only £3.50.
The pub, with a games room and with plans for a sensory garden this summer, is open three times a week at the Banbury Community Support Service day centre.
The centre, run by Oxfordshire County Council, supports 22 people a day. When a large room within it came available, people were unanimous – they wanted to transform it into a pub.
Oxfordshire is full of country pubs, but people did not always feel welcome or able to relax in a traditional boozer.
So the team (the centre has 21 workers) and those they support agreed to create a welcoming, pub-style space inside the centre.
A social media fundraising campaign brought in donations of cash and pub furniture and the doors opened in July 2023.
“What they really wanted was to have karaoke, have a dance, have a drink – they just wanted to have fun,” explains Jen Farrell, manager of Banbury Community Support Service.
“So we’re inviting people into our spaces, where our community can absolutely be themselves without any judgment whatsoever.
“The response we’re getting is that they’ve never been to a pub where they’ve felt so welcome or where they’ve had so much fun.”
The pub, which can hold up to 30 punters, tackles social isolation. According to research organisation the Belonging Forum, one in five people living with disabilities experiences loneliness and a quarter report never going to a pub, bar or coffee shop with friends.
Socialising can be difficult for young people with a learning disability, with one in three spending less than a single hour outside their home on an average Saturday, according to Mencap.
The bar is open every Friday to all comers and once a month it hosts a pub lunch, serving fish and chips, sausage and chips and other popular pub grub. Alcohol is served on special occasions like birthdays; most drinks are non-alcoholic.
“When you walk into that room, you’re not in a day service,” Farrell says. “It’s broken down all these barriers. It’s bringing the night into the day.”
The Cheers M’Dears pub has been instrumental in reducing feelings of isolation and infantilisation. One woman who had a stroke eight years ago had not felt confident to be out of her home, but now visits the pub every week.
“She’s got other people in her situation who can relate to how she’s feeling, and that really breaks down the loneliness and isolation,” Farrell explains.
As another puts it: “I like going to our pub room on a Friday. It lifts my spirits to be with my friends and it always feels fun and safe.”
Becoming a publican
Learning the tricks of the pub trade has been transformational.
One woman who had needed two-to-one support during her visits to the day centre said it was her passion to work behind a bar.
“At first we thought: how is this going to work? She found the world very difficult and had difficult behaviours. But we didn’t see it as a barrier,” says Farrell.
The team showed her to learn how to make drinks, handle money and operate the till. Training took two months and, initially, she needed a lot of support. Now, the structure of the work and the responsibility have boosted her independence.
“She’s no longer supported two-to-one during the week, she’s now volunteer working in another cafe and she works independently at the bar on a Friday,” says Farrell.
“If we can give one message, that is: do not concentrate on what someone cannot do – advocate for what that person can do.”
Hannah Fearn is a freelance social affairs journalist
