Teens suggest improvements to town Hub
Teenagers didn’t hold back when they suggested a raft of improvements to attract more of their age group to a council-run youth club in Newport.
The three young people had completed work experience at The Hub cafe, in High Street, and Newport Town Council asked them to report back on what they needed to do to get more of the town’s youth involved.
One of the three told a committee meeting on Wednesday that “The Hub is quite a bland building with a brick wall at the front and a window.”
They made suggestions for giving the building a modern look, including with graffiti-style art.
“There is also the perspective that the Hub is exclusively for younger children,” they added.
The meeting of The Hub project committee also heard passionate suggestions for events including Pokémon gaming and swapping, and live acoustic music using local teenage talent.
Another student, who attends Newport Girls High School, asked for more books for a study café and noise cancelling headphones to help their studies.
They all wanted changes to the menu at the café which opens five days a week.
Councillor Bill Harper (West ward) was captivated by the idea of quizzes at the venue, including a ‘brainrot’ that tests whose brain is rotting the most by spending too much time on the internet.
The teens were applauded for their presentations which included a call for the council to use Instagram and TikTok in place of Facebook.
“I don’t know many people my age who use Facebook,” one of the teenagers said. “It’s good for parents around my mother’s age.”
Committee chairman Councillor Tim Nelson (North ward), praised the young people for their presentations, adding: “There is plenty for The Hub management to go on.”
Joanne Reay, the council clerk, said they had already seen the presentations and are already “incorporating ideas”.
Councillor Nelson added: “The quality of the presentations, the work done and the creativity was absolutely wonderful.
“My own youth was pretty arid in comparison.”
And Councillor Harper said: “All I had in our day was bangers and frogspawn.”
The Newport Youth Café Project is a registered charity which receives £19,000 in grants from the town council, other public sector grants and receives an income from sales in the volunteer-run café.
