Date published: 2025-09-30 | Category: Bath, Business support , Delivering for local residents, economic development, Regeneration and Development
Two businesses in Bath have received a fresh new look as part of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s work to revitalise high streets across the district.
Timebank Community Sharing Space on Twerton High Street and Rach’s Café on Mount Road, Southdown, are the latest to benefit from shopfront improvements under the Bath Local Centres High Street Improvement Scheme which is helping to breathe new life into neighbourhoods.
The much-loved Rach’s Café, a family-run business that opened in autumn 2025, has transformed a long-vacant unit into a vibrant social hub. Its new shopfront with a colourful botanical theme was designed in collaboration with Bath-based You & Me Architecture.
Timebank Community Sharing Space, a hub for community support and activities, has had its shopfront refurbished with new signage and restored wooden panels. The centre offers a simple way for members to earn time credits by helping neighbours and ‘spend’ them when they need a hand themselves, helping to build stronger and connected communities.
The Bath Local Centres High Street Improvement Scheme supports improvements to Twerton High Street, Mount Road, Moorland Road and Weston High Street. The scheme has delivered meanwhile uses in vacant shops, new street furniture, planting, events, additional shopfront improvements, public art, signage and support to community organisations.
The scheme is funded by £295,000 from the West of England Combined Authority’s ‘Love our High Streets’ grant programme and £145,000 from the Community Infrastructure Levy.
The council has welcomed the Government announcement on September 26 that Twerton will receive £20m Pride in Place funding which empowers local people to decide how their neighbourhoods are invested in.
Councillor Paul Roper, cabinet member for Economic and Cultural Sustainable Development, said: “These shopfronts look fantastic and boost community pride in our local centres. We have many thriving entrepreneurs in B&NES and by supporting businesses like Timebank and Rach’s Café, we’re investing in the heart of our communities to make meaningful improvements to the places that residents value. We’ll continue to support our communities in bidding for the new Pride in Place funding which will achieve more positive change for Twerton.”
Shop owners Rach and Andy said: “We’ve noted our customers’ great appreciation for having a café on Mount Road, which has acted as a social hub and catalyst for the local community since we opened. We’re looking forward to our crochet club opening in the café next week.”
Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said: “Twerton, Southdown, and neighbourhoods across the West deserve to see and feel real change. This is just the start of a new chapter for our region. After last week’s launch of the West’s Growth Strategy was followed by some £20 million national investment in Twerton over the next decade, local people will have a direct say in shaping their area’s future.
“These shopfront improvements show how targeted investment can inject more life into our local high streets. Funding from the local council and regional authority backs local businesses to grow and thrive, and will help enhance local pride in where we call home.”
The council’s Invest in B&NES team offers a raft of support to help local businesses startup and grow.
ENDS
Photo: Rach’s Café owners Andy and Rach. Photo credit: You & Me Architecture