Jennifer Newland has lived in Thornbury for just over a year, and works at popular neighbourhood bar and café Hawkes House. She tells us what she enjoys about life in Thornbury and how her job helps her engage with the community.
Hawkes House feels like the hub of the community. We have all sorts of guests who come in: young and old, mothers with babies, community groups, people who pop in for a quick lunch, others who spend all afternoon working on their laptop.
We have a relaxed ambience here and I love getting to know our regular customers – it’s always nice to see them when I’m out and about and wave hello. Hawkes House is like a family, I really do enjoy coming to work.
When I’m not working, I like to take my kids to the countryside – there are lots of lovely local walks for the dog, and we visit Thornbury’s leisure centre too. We enjoy trying out all the different places to eat in the area, there’s a really wide range of cafes, pubs and restaurants, and we go to the cinema in nearby Yate.
I also like shopping, and it’s not far to go to Bristol or the Mall at Cribbs Causeway for all the big brands. But Thornbury feels unique as we have a lot of brilliant independent businesses that you don’t always find in other towns – it has a real individual feel about it. It’s a personal place to shop, a little bit different to the norm. It’s a great place to be.