Kettering community cafe 'open to everyone' nominated for food and drink award

The team behind a Kettering drop-in community cafe say they are thrilled to be named as a finalist in the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2022.

Johnny’s Happy Place (JHP) was set up following the death of Johnny Mackay after he took his own life in 2014, aged 29.

Hosted at the Keystone centre in Rockingham Road, Kettering, the cafe and associated services offer support to people by providing a space to help those living with anxiety issues and depression, or people who just feel isolated.

Johnny's sister Charlotte said: "We are absolutely thrilled to be nominated for such a prestigious award. It was a real surprise.

"Community is at the heart of everything Johnny's Happy Place does. We created JHP to give people a place of belonging.

"For some, weekends can be a really horrible time. It's a long stretch from Friday to Monday and we wanted to bridge that gap. We are open to absolutely anyone. We pay for art and creative writing teachers to give free workshops that anyone can attend, and we pay for a counsellor so people can have free drop in counselling on a Saturday."

CEO of The Good Loaf, Suzy Van Rooyen, who is supporting the Community Cafe category at the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2022, said: “I have been thrilled at the number of entries, the quality of their food offer and what they do for our communities.”

Charlotte added: “All food is £1 and tea and coffee is free. It's very important to us that hot drinks are free. Everyone involved with JHP is a volunteer.

"We set our little community cafe up in memory of my brother Johnny and he is always at the heart of it all. We always think, ‘What would Johnny do?’ He also loved his Weetabix!"

JHP is open Saturdays 10am to 2pm and Sundays 11am to 2pm.

Also in the running for the award are: Aspen Café, Bosworth Garden Burton Latimer, Centre Café 1850, Northampton Café Track, Saints Coffee, Northampton, The Place to Bee, Kingsthorpe.