025: Good News for Stoke & Staffordshire
025: Good News for Stoke & Staffordshire
Californian settles in Stoke, bids open to run cafes in three Stoke parks, revamp for Potteries Museum and new bookclub for women makes its debut…
Good News 🎉
Former California Resident Swaps The Golden State for Stoke. Staffs Uni graduate Opal Raine is now happily living in Hanley post graduation and currently looking for work as a graphic designer. They share their favourite hangouts with The Knot. “I really enjoy going to Drop City Books, Airspace art gallery, and the Potteries Museum. I go to the museum about once a month to see their new exhibitions. It’s also very convenient that all three of those places are right next to each other, so it gives me an excuse to spend an entire day visiting them!” Opal has been touched by the support they’ve received from local people. “My manager at the Student’s Union, Danny Walker, was a great inspiration. He was always encouraging me to go for my goals and to speak about my accomplishments proudly.”
Photo credit: Opal Raine Run a Cafe in One of Stoke’s Parks. Always fancied running your own F&B business amid tranquil surrounds? Well now it’s a possibility, as local businesses have been invited to submit proposals to run a cafe or restaurant at commercial spaces in Burslem Park, Hanley Park and Westport Lake. The three buildings currently available to rent are advertised through Butters John Bee estate agents (details for Hanley Park will go up in the next week), but best hurry, as you’ll need to make a final offer by Friday 13 September at 1pm. If you need some business advice first, then email the council’s Business Growth team. We want oatcakes on the menus, please!
Expansion Afoot for Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. Following a successful bid by Stoke-on-Trent City Council for £5 million from Arts Council England, plans are in place to revamp one of the region’s best-loved attractions. You can expect enhanced gallery spaces, better orientation, and more learning and teaching spaces to support education, health and wellbeing programmes. There will also be an Artist in Residence, workshop spaces and a new terraced area at the front of the museum while the main entrance is set to be relocated to the side of the museum on Broad Street. View the project’s masterplan and overview and get involved by emailing your thoughts on the museum’s future.
Photo credit: The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery / Facebook Calling all Female Bookworms: New Mobile Book Club. Love a good read and discussing literature? Meg’s Reading Club is a new in-person book club for women that’s set to host monthly meet-ups in cafes or pubs to dissect plot lines and scrutinise characters. Founder Megan Ellis told The Knot, “I’ve had people sign up from all over so I’ve got Leek planned for September, Stoke town centre for October and then possibly Newcastle for November. I’d like to go to as many places as we can, as there are so many lovely spots people might not know about.” Members will vote on book selection and the sessions will be around an hour of book chat followed by some socialising time at the end, she adds.
Photo credit: Megan Ellis
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