‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire..’ Case Study: The family of foodies cooking up one of the top-3 restaurants in Oxford from a ‘Meanwhile’ co-working space
In February 2021, OxLEP announced the launch of the ‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire..’ programme, a high street revitalisation scheme led by Oxford City Council and social enterprise Makespace Oxford.
With £1.9m of funding secured by OxLEP from the Government’s Getting Building Fund – set up to accelerate the UK’s economic revival from COVID-19 through the delivery of capital projects – the programme set out to transform vacant retail units in high streets across the county into independent shops, cultural venues, affordable creative studios and co-working spaces.
The wake of the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to our already struggling high streets, with a vast drop in footfall in the city and its local centres and significant reductions in visitor spending.
The ‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire..’ programme set out with ambitions to provide affordable premises to more than 100 organisations and support at least 300 jobs across the county, contributing to a more inclusive and resilient city centre. Now, over one year on, the impact of the programme to restore and reimagine our high streets is beginning to come into fruition.
Makespace Oxford, the social enterprise commissioned to run the project, specialises in utilising ‘Meanwhile’ space, securing the leases of vacant units for socially-minded and community-led organisations.
One of Makespace’s flagship buildings is their co-working space on Frideswide Square, the ‘Community Works’, which has continued to grow in success since the beginning of the ‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire..’ programme.
One of the key vendors – and to many the face – of the Community Works, Lula’s Ethiopian and Eritrean Cuisine is the popular Oxford eatery that has come to call the front segment of the building home.
After successfully serving up their food at Oxford’s bustling Gloucester Green market for several years, family-run Lula’s came to secure their restaurant space in October last year and have since gone from strength-to-strength, with TripAdvisor’s July update seeing the eatery rank second in their list of top-reviewed restaurants in Oxford.
Fellow residents calling the Community Works home include The Oxford Poetry Library, Oxford Playhouse, Live Illustration and Robyn Macdonald Knits.
Find out more about the ‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire’ programme
Discover more about our other Getting Building Fund projects
More in Business Strategy
‘Meanwhile in Oxfordshire..’ Case Study: Ducky Zebra, the sustainable kidswear brand...
‘Often girls’ clothes are pink, cute and impractical. They promote kindness, but not always confidence. And boys’ clothes are often blue, aggressive and adventure seeking. They promote confidence, but not always kindness. I wanted to bring these two characteristics together and allow all children, no matter what their gender, to celebrate both kindness and confidence.’ – Sally Dear, Founder of Ducky Zebra
Innovative drone delivery trials take place at Milton Park
A pilot demonstration for a set of innovative drone and electric van freight trials was successfully completed at Milton Park.
Businesses encouraged to have their say: Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan
Oxfordshire County Council has launched its first draft area travel plan for public feedback following the adoption of its county-wide transport and connectivity plan, last month – and the county’s businesses are being encouraged to have their say.
From this author
B4 Platinum CEOs and Leaders Discussion Lunch with Nigel Tipple, CEO,...
On a monthly basis, B4 invites a leader from one of its Platinum membership companies to host a lunch, bringing together senior directors from within the B4 community giving those in attendance an opportunity to share news, collate views or discuss common challenges or opportunities faced by businesses.
Strategic Marketing Campaigns Commissioned – to support Oxfordshire’s visitor economy –...
A series of targeted marketing campaigns to promote Oxford and Oxfordshire have been commissioned with both Experience Oxfordshire and Cotswolds Tourism securing contracts to deliver the nine campaigns.
‘One year on from ‘Billion Tonne Drop’-themed conference, Oxfordshire has an...
On Tuesday 9 November 2021, OxLEP hosted an official COP26 roadshow event on the Presidency’s ‘Science and Innovation’ Day, titled ‘’The Billion Tonne Drop – How Oxfordshire leads the global charge to address the climate emergency’.