In a packed meeting at the Klondyke this evening voting took place for the Levenshulme Market Fund 2015. The following bids were funded to the amount shown. This means that everyone who bid for funding received funding as the LCDC bid was withdrawn. £15,000 was available for distribution.
Congratulations to all the successful bids and everyone who put in so much hard work for them. And well done to Levenshulme Market for their first fund reinvesting in Levenshulme.
Levenshulme Market is registered as a Community Interest Company. This is the first distribution of operating profits to community projects that are focussed on enabling local people to start up on the market or to existing local businesses to develop and revitalise Levenshulme High Street and its retail and business offer.
Levenshulme Market itself has gone from strength to strength over the past couple of years and went weekly from March to December last year. In 2015 Levenshulme Market Company will also start running markets at Manchester University and in the Northern Quarter.
Find out more about Levenshulme Market HERE
Winning proposals and amounts
Byrne the Cake Brewery – £610.56
David Foulger is a Levenshulme resident who has been perfecting his brewing in his home environment for six months and is now approaching the stage where he is ready to start trading on the market, thus launching Levenshulme’s own artisan brewery and helping gain more attention for Levenshulme’s independent traders and producers. David will use the money, if awarded, to buy equipment that will allow him to brew on a larger scale with a shorter time scale and less chance of spoilage.
Decourcey Designs – £760.00
Sharlene Decourcey is fourth generation Levenshulme and started her business trading in the Antiques Village a year ago. She would like to develop her skills, expand into market trading and build her business by undertaking further training in upholstery, buying tools for her work and producing branded clothes, banners and business cards.
Indulge Dessert Café Expansion – £1400.00
Indulge is the only dessert cafe within the Levenshulme stretch of Stockport Road and they are keen to build their business by expanding their product range (to include pancakes, frozen yoghurt, slushies and professional coffees), increase their profile and visibility and make physical improvements to the shop. The funds they are applying for would be used to repaint the shop shutters and improve the signage, change the layout to improve service and maximise customer seating during busy periods, add customer toilet facilities, deliver a leaflet campaign in the area and purchase machines for making coffee, pancakes and frozen yoghurt.
Levenshulme Contemporary Art Centre – £2210.00
The LCAC Shop will be a temporary, non-profit making hub of radical thinking for the Levenshulme community. It will open for two weeks during the Manchester International Festival (2nd-19th July 2015), with the aim of helping to seed the development of a future independent fringe festival. The Shop will function as an open social space, the aim of which is to create the possibility of imagining a new locality. It will serve coffee, sell radical texts and work/prints by local artists, and host free public talks, including connecting participants with other radically-minded individuals across the world via video-conferencing. It will be open to the public at varied times, including late nights for post-work discussions. The group are bidding for funds to run the shop, including rental and fittings, marketing and promotion of the space and paying/reimbursing visiting speakers and artists.
Lily and Daisy Flower Company – £890.00
The Lily and Daisy Flower Company will be based in Levenshulme as a market stall and local delivery service, operating by bike and selling only flowers sourced locally in season and from indoor growing operations in England and the Netherlands at other times, with the aim of being carbon neutral within two years of starting business. Melvyn Newton, who runs the Lily and Daisy Flower Company is bidding for funds for a bike trailer, a street trading licence, insurance and branding.
Love Levenshulme www.lovelevenshulme.org – £5000.00
Love Levenshulme is a digital and high street community asset. It was first created as an online map in 2014 and resident Pauline Johnson is seeking funds to develop it as a resource that will support local businesses, improve our trading environment, expand as a “live learning facility” and promote Levenshulme as a visitor destination. It’s a consumer facing, trader focused online resource and high street brand. The funds, if allocated, will be used to develop the site itself, to support engagement activity with traders and to launch a pop-up high street “hub” for the site, allowing business owners, residents and visitors to make their own contribution to its workings.
Samosa Shack – £1000.00
Samosa Shack is the brain child of Levenshulme resident Kamini Patel, who would like to develop an artisan food stall where he can sell Gujarati cuisine – particularly samosas, which will be made to order while customers wait. He has applied for the fund to cover the costs of buying the equipment associated with setting up an outdoor hot food business as well as branding and design work to make his stall attractive to customers.
Thairish Café – Facelift – £2370.00
Levenshulme institution Thairish Café (previously Isis) are applying for funds to make their business an even more desirable destination on the high street and the interior will be a more welcoming and cleaner environment for customers. They would use the money, if awarded, to update the front of the cafe by cleaning and painting the outside area – meaning they will be more attractive to customers, particularly those coming to and from the market. They would also like to refurbish their customer toilet, making it a safer and cleaner environment, and to resurface the floor of the café.
Woolly Mammoth – £750.00
Woolly Mammoth is brings together locally sourced UK wool and vegetarian food with a focus on promoting positive mental health and well being. The social enterprise, run by Levenshulme resident Charlotte Dillon and business partner Rachel Hall, will launch with a series of pop-up events at Levenshulme Market, with a view to eventually move to a shop space in Levenshulme. They will use the funds, if awarded, to cover the costs of buying equipment to cook their food, starter stock and branding.
All photographs courtesy of Jeremy Hoad.
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