{"id":982517,"date":"2026-05-24T21:10:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/982517\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T21:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:10:30","slug":"genius-way-this-redfield-bar-saved-itself-during-challenging-time-for-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/982517\/","title":{"rendered":"Genius way this Redfield bar saved itself during challenging time for business"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new soft play venue has already proved really popular with locals\"bristolpost\"<\/p>\n

16:00, 24 May 2026Updated 16:28, 24 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"Shorties<\/p>\n

Shorties pop-up play cafe at The Red Church in Redfield(Image: Veronique Cecchini)<\/p>\n

A new pop-up play cafe<\/a> has opened in Redfield<\/a> at a popular local food and drink venue. Shorties, which is located at The Red Church in Church Road, opened just a few weeks ago and is already a hit with local families.<\/p>\n

The brainchild of Veronique Cecchini, a 39-year-old mum-of-two from St George, Shorties is a pop-up play cafe which for babies through to preschoolers. The space – inside the restaurant – includes ‘wooden open-ended toys, role play areas, small world set-ups and sensory play’.<\/p>\n

It currently runs four 90-minute sessions each day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and people can book in advance or show up on the day.<\/p>\n

Veronique says that the idea for Shorties came about after leaving her full time job in the music industry earlier this year. “Shorties actually came about during a pretty challenging time for The Red Church,” she said.<\/p>\n

“My partner Jake is a co-owner of The Red Church and, like many independent hospitality businesses, we’ve faced a lot over the past few years – opening around the time of Covid, the cost of living crisis, and the ongoing pressures of running a small independent venue.<\/p>\n

\"Shorties<\/p>\n

Shorties pop-up play cafe at The Red Church in Redfield(Image: Shorties\/Veronique Cecchini)<\/p>\n

“Things had finally started to stabilise last year, but then we were hit with a significant rent increase, so we knew we needed to think creatively about how we used the space and how we could diversify what we offered.<\/p>\n

“As a parent of two young children ourselves, we felt there was a real gap locally for a calm, thoughtfully designed space where children could play while adults still felt comfortable and relaxed, too. That’s where the idea for Shorties began.<\/p>\n

“The Red Church already had a reputation as a welcoming family-friendly venue, but also somewhere adults knew as a restaurant and bar in its own right, so we felt combining those worlds could create something quite unique for the area.”<\/p>\n

In addition to the pop-up play cafe sessions, Veronique says families can enjoy everything The Red Church<\/a> already offers as a venue – ‘quality drinks, cakes, children’s options and a full pizza menu’.<\/p>\n

Described as a pizzeria and listening bar, The Red Church has a vast menu of craft beers and ciders, cocktails, wines, and hosts weekend DJs and even a pub<\/a> quiz on Wednesdays.<\/p>\n

The response from the local community has already been hugely positive towards Shorties, Veronique says. “We opened three weeks ago and honestly have been overwhelmed by the response from the local community and from families across Bristol. It\u2019s been amazing to see so many parents, carers, babies and young children enjoying the space already.<\/p>\n

\"Toys<\/p>\n

Toys at Shorties play cafe in Redfield(Image: Shorties\/Veronique Cecchini)<\/p>\n

“One of the nicest things for me personally has simply been seeing carers able to genuinely relax while their children play, whether that\u2019s enjoying a coffee, catching up with friends or just taking a moment to themselves. That balance was really important to us when creating Shorties.<\/p>\n

“I think spaces like Shorties feel especially important at the moment because life can feel quite overwhelming for a lot of people. Financially, things are tough for many families, and life with young children can also feel quite isolating at times.<\/p>\n

“One of the loveliest things has been seeing people come in, relax, chat, meet other parents and carers, and genuinely enjoy spending time with their children in a calm and welcoming environment. Creating a space where people feel comfortable, connected and able to slow down a little has been a big part of what we wanted Shorties to be.<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

“In terms of the future, we\u2019d obviously love to see Shorties continue to grow sustainably as a business and become a long-term part of the wider Red Church offering. Independent venues have faced huge challenges in recent years, so being able to diversify creatively has been really important for us.<\/p>\n

“The Red Church has gradually evolved into a real multi-use community venue, whether that\u2019s through food, film nights, chess clubs, speed dating events, club nights or now children\u2019s play sessions through Shorties. We\u2019d love to continue building on that and keep creating a space that feels welcoming and is enjoyed by lots of different people within Bristol.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new soft play venue has already proved really popular with locals 16:00, 24 May 2026Updated 16:28, 24…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":982518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,11570,393,4884,11653,10297,15125,16,15],"class_list":["post-982517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bristol","tag-bristol","tag-britain","tag-cafes","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-premium","tag-redfield","tag-things-to-do-in-bristol","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116631610473537248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=982517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/982518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=982517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=982517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=982517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}