Wellbeing focused co-working space with its own pub in Burnley set for launch

Burnley is set to become home to an office and co-working space with a difference – one with its own traditional British pub inside.

The new space, within the regenerated Victorian-era weavers’ shed and cottages at Slater Terrace, is being created by local social entrepreneur Dave Scholes and his Burnley-based community interest company Six Connections.

It has been designed to focus on wellbeing and bringing people together for positive conversations around mental health.

As well providing serviced office and meeting space that local business can use, it will also provide Six Connections with its first permanent home, enabling it to deliver mental health and wellbeing training courses in its own environment, not just at client or off-site premises.

It will also feature a new pub-style social space – to be named Carter’s after Dave’s late friend Ian Carter – that will be used both as a social space for co-working members and to host events, comedy nights, quizzes, and other functions.

Dave said: “We wanted to create a space for ourselves and other like-minded businesses and people, but we didn’t want it to be a typical co-working space that you can find anywhere – we wanted to do it the Burnley way.

“This is a unique concept and, as far as I know, the only co-working space in the country where the primary focus is on employee and personal wellbeing.

“We’re creating a properly licensed pub within the building, but like most conversations around mental health, it’s very much environment driven, rather than just being beer driven.

"We tend to be more likely to open up about the way we’re feeling, or to ask mates how they are doing in environments like the pub or a café and that’s where the idea came from.”

Dave added: “Most people are familiar with the hidden speakeasies during prohibition in America. We’re creating a ‘speak easier’ – a bar where the conversations aren’t hidden.

"The space is designed for people to feel comfortable in conversation, whether that is to celebrate something positive or just to unload the thoughts and worries of the day. This is our community of care.”

The co-working space, and the pub inside it, will be ready for their official launch in September, but 10 business members have already signed up to use the space when it opens.

Dave has had help on his plans for the pub from local independent brewing business Moorhouse’s, with whom Six Connections previously partnered with on its limited edition ‘Ask Twice’ ale, which was sold in local Wetherpoons pubs and encouraged people to ask how friends were feeling.

Dave has also received support from Lancashire law firm Harrison Drury which has advised him on obtaining a premises licence.

Malcolm Ireland, partner and head of the leisure and licensing team at Harrison Drury, said: “Anyone who meets Dave and hears the Six Connections story can’t fail to be inspired by it. What Dave and his team have done for people through Six Connections and the Powered by Mates initiative is incredible.

“We’re proud to have supported Dave to make his vision possible. Having a licence gives Dave and his community interest company the flexibility to do different things with the space, opening up additional revenue streams by being able to hire out the space for all sorts of events and training days.

"In turn, this will enable them to help more people towards better mental health.”

Dave started Six Connections in 2021 inspired by his own journey to overcome mental health struggles following the death of his close friend Ian Carter.

Dave and Ian had become “friends for life” after meeting 20 years earlier at Lancaster University where the outgoing and gregarious Ian had helped Dave to adjust to life away from home. Ian took his own life in 2011.

“I struggled for many years, hiding from how I really felt for a long time,” adds Dave. “It wasn’t easy, but with the support of the people around me, I started to talk more openly about how I was really doing, usually over a brew or a beer.

“I thought that if I could work through this, then others could too. I wasn’t an expert, but with time and the right direction, I knew that, like me, everyone could learn more about managing their own mental health, what expert advice is available and what genuinely supporting others looks like.”