21.16°C Luke Hayes reflects on his journey from IT to community work, the inspiration behind Hollyhock Café and why creating spaces where people feel welcome matters to him.
When Luke Hayes talks about Hollyhock Café, he isn’t really talking about coffee.
“People come in for a coffee or a cake or an ice cream,” he says. “But they stay for the chat.”
It’s a simple way of describing what he and his partner, Kayleigh Rippingale, have set out to create through New Town Community Roots CIC at Old Heath Recreation Ground.
Although Luke has lived in Colchester for six years, the city has long been part of his life.
“I was actually born at the old maternity hospital on Lexden Road,” he says. “I always grew up around Colchester. It was family days out here, and we had friends and family living in Shrub End, so Colchester was always my second home. Now it is my home.”
His route to running a community café wasn’t a conventional one.
After leaving college at 17, Luke built a career in IT support, but alongside work, he was living with depression. The turning point came when his eldest son was born.
“I remember holding him for the first time and thinking, ‘I’m going to make sure you’re OK.’ The thing that stood out for me was that to make sure he was OK, I had to be OK as well.”
Although he remained in IT for many years, he gradually realised the part of the job he enjoyed most had very little to do with computers.
“I didn’t necessarily enjoy fixing computers,” he says. “I enjoyed talking with people. I enjoyed hearing their stories.”
That eventually led him to study psychology, before he left IT to work in mental health and community support.
Luke is quick to point out that New Town Community Roots began with someone else’s vision.
“That was Kayleigh’s dream.”
His partner, Kayleigh Rippingale, councillor for New Town & Christ Church, spent one sleepless night writing pages of ideas about bringing people together and creating stronger community connections in New Town.
Luke says the idea grew from the area’s own history.
“Every building has a history,” he says. “Every house had a family connected to Paxmans in some way. It was about how we bring all that connectivity back together.”
The original ambition was to create a larger multi-purpose community space, but when those plans fell through, another opportunity presented itself.
“We thought, if we can’t make it work over there, why don’t we try something a little bit smaller?”
That opportunity became Hollyhock Café.
“We hadn’t planned on running a café,” Luke laughs. “A couple of weeks before we opened, I’d never even drunk a cup of coffee.”
From the outset, Luke says the aim was to create something that felt open and welcoming. Even before the café officially opened, someone was on site every weekend so visitors to the recreation ground could use the toilets.
“There aren’t any public toilets around here,” he says. “It’s a basic human need.”
One of his first decisions was that the former office at the back of the building wouldn’t stay an office.
“I didn’t want to shut myself away. I wanted to be amongst people.”
Instead, the room is being turned into a quiet space where charities and community organisations will be able to meet people privately.
Support for the project has come from across the local community. Furniture, toys and equipment have all been donated, while volunteers and local businesses have helped transform the building.
“It’s been completely overwhelming,” Luke says. “There’s been such an outpouring of love and support.”
Just a few weeks after opening, familiar faces are already becoming regulars.
“We’ve got a lovely gentleman who comes in every morning with his dog for a cup of tea. We’ve got a lady who comes in after school every day for a takeaway latte.
“People come in for a coffee, a cake, or an ice cream. But they stay for a chat.”
Luke believes the pandemic changed the way many people think about community.
“I became very isolated,” he says. “I realised I don’t want to be alone. I want to be out in my community. I want to be working with people. I want to be supporting people.”
Those experiences continue to shape Hollyhock Café today. Free drinking water is always available, volunteers are welcome, and Luke hopes people feel comfortable walking through the door, whether they want a coffee or simply a conversation.
“The conversation, the chat, that’s what makes this work.”
He also believes everyone deserves the chance to be heard.
“Don’t give up on people just because they don’t agree with you.”
Looking ahead, Luke hopes New Town Community Roots will continue to grow, creating more opportunities for local people to connect and support one another while strengthening community life in New Town.
Hollyhock Café will celebrate its official opening on Sunday 5th July with a free evening of music, refreshments, cake, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a chance to meet the team behind the project. Everyone is welcome. It starts at 5pm, and event info is available here.
For Luke, though, success isn’t measured by the number of coffees served.
“If the work we do in this café helps one person,” he says, “I consider this café to be a success.”
Luke Hayes at Hollyhock Café in Old Heath Recreation Ground, Colchester.
