Oxfordshire County Council's ‘Cheers M’Dears pub room wins MJ Award for Innovation in Children’s and Adults’ Services

Banbury Community Support Service (CSS) is an Oxfordshire County Council-run day service that supports adults with learning difficulties as well as people living with autism and dementia.

Staff are encouraged to be innovative, listening to the people who use the service, and using their ideas to make the centre even better. It’s part of the council’s adult social care Oxfordshire Way vision to support people to live happily and independently, within their own communities.

Banbury CSS is managed by Jennifer Farrell and her close-knit team. They work with the adults who use the service, regularly asking them what changes could be made to make their experience even better.

During a team meeting in spring last year, the question was raised about what to do with a large, seldom used room towards the back of the building. Staff felt there was the potential to create something that brought real benefits for the people they support.

Two service users were particularly excited about the opportunity to develop the space, leading group engagement sessions to consider different ideas. For people less comfortable with expressing themselves in that environment, one-to-one discussions were held with a member of staff.

The overriding feedback (80 per cent) showed the adults wanted to use the space more sociably, to create an environment where they could really relax and enjoy themselves. It was important to them that they could invite their friends from the wider community into the room, challenging the perception that the centre was private and out of bounds.

It was also clear that the adults wanted to be involved in the design and creation of the space, empowering them to make informed decisions about their resource.

For the people who use the service, a space where they could relax, have fun and socialise was something they really missed. While they are welcome in many pubs in Banbury, some expressed that they sometimes felt anxious about visiting one, uncertain about the environment and how other people might react.

After taking a vote – by offering a show of hands as well as through one-to-one discussions - the idea was agreed to create an inclusive pub room at Banbury CSS, complete with a themed wall, games table and karaoke machine.

Research suggested this would be the first of its kind in the country, but with a cost-of-living crisis and council budgets stretched, the project would need the very best partnership work if it was ever going to become a reality.

Banbury CSS has been supported by the Friends of Redlands charity for more than 40 years. Run by families who have used the service in the past, when it was known as the Redlands Centre, its members bring in creativity as well as financial donations through regular fundraising activities.

Initial funding for the pub room project came from events hosted by the charity, including bingo nights and cake sales. This positively raised £3,000, but for the room to fulfil its potential, the team from Banbury CSS needed to further develop partnerships within the local community.

Social media played a big part in the appeal. By focusing on Facebook as a key sharing platform, the team increased their followers ten-fold, from 50 to 500. Word soon spread, with local residents and businesses donating their time to redecorate the room and build the bar, as well as offering furniture, games and glasses for free.

For the adults who use the service, one of their main ambitions of the project was to bring more local people into the centre. By sharing information and updates about the project on social media, the local community were shown a different side to Banbury CSS, encouraging them to feel that they were a part of the centre.

Media partners were also established, including the two regional television news outlets (BBC South and ITV Meridian), as well as the town’s newspaper – the Banbury Guardian, helping to further raise awareness of the great work at Banbury CSS. This enabled word to spread about the project to a wider audience.

Cheers M’Dears bar was officially opened with a celebration event on 30 June 2023. Joining the people who use the service - and came up with the vision – were members of the community who offered their skills and donations to the project. They also welcomed the local MP, Victoria Prentis, who raised a glass alongside members from the Friends of Redlands.

By listening to and working with the adults who are supported at Banbury CSS, the pub room has everything they want and is making a genuine difference to them. Comments have included:

Some of the adults who use the service have shown a genuine interest and skill in working behind the bar, gaining real life hospitality experience. It is hoped that this could lead to opportunities to work in similar settings in the future.

The pub room is open for internal use for three afternoons a week, including a session called ‘Wet your Whistle’ for people with aging needs and adults living with dementia to have a social time.

Having these specific sessions means that some of the most vulnerable people in the community have a safe space that is accessible for them, at a gentler speed than other busier events that may not be as appealing.

Once a month, a ‘lunch brunch’ is held in the pub, where everyone is given the chance to enjoy a full pub experience, with basket meals of fish or sausage and chips. This provides the adults with a comfortable and familiar experience, enabling them to recollect happy times when they had pub lunches with friends and family.

The Cheers M’Dears events are so popular, the centre now operates a waiting list for people wishing to join them from other day centres in Oxfordshire, as well as external users.

The space is also available to the local community to hire out, bringing people who may not usually use the centre into the welcoming space. While alcohol is not available during day when the support service is being used, the hub does hold a licence for alcohol to be consumed, so anyone looking to hire out the venue has access to a traditional pub experience. All profits go back into the Friends of Redlands charity to bring further benefit to the people who come to Banbury CSS.

The pub room has also become a communal hub for outreach and has been the point of conversation during engagement with other organisations, including Age Friendly Banbury, Age UK Oxfordshire and local charity Brighter Futures. The team hope to strengthen these partnerships by bringing more external people into the space, supporting them to hire or run sessions at Cheers M’Dears. This helps to further support community members, offering a venue for informal sessions and awareness events.

After Cheers M’Dears had been open for a few months, staff again engaged with the service users in a tailored way, listening to feedback about what had worked well and what could be even better.

These conversations revealed that a high proportion of the women felt that while they enjoyed the space, there would be value in an area which provided something a little quieter and more personal.

Facilitated group discussions arrived at the idea of a new beauty therapy space, where people could be pampered whist talking to others, providing benefits to their mental health.

By following the same process of working with and listening to the people they support, Banbury CSS and the Friends of Redlands reconnected with some of the local community who helped to create Cheers M’Dears, as well as beauty therapists and businesses in the area, to develop a pamper room at no cost to the council.

They also formed a partnership with Banbury and Bicester college to supply students who are training in hair and beauty to come to the centre to provide free treatments as part of their course.

In October 2023, Ta Da! pamper room was opened, offering beauty sessions to support the wellbeing of the adults who come to the centre. During the official launch, adults were offered free hair dressing services, as well as light massage and nail treatments. One woman mentioned that she no longer felt comfortable in more traditional beauty salons, so to have somewhere where she could feel pampered in a welcoming community setting made a real difference to her.