A neighbourhood cafe for convening around quality coffee, cakes and conversation to help us all stay afloat as more pressure is put onto us.

"Coffee is a language in itself."

— Jackie Chan

Gather together with neighbours from near and far at The Floating Front Room, a neighbourhood cafe on the canal at South Loop Park. Whether calling in on a walk or bike ride, or looking for somewhere to rest, read, linger, discuss, and create, a warm welcome awaits you, along with a range of delicious hot drinks, snacks, and shared resources for you to borrow during your visit, such as books and zines.

Building on the history of coffee houses as sites for revolutionary organising, and the coffee shop at the heart of Impact Hub Birmingham that was built in this spirit, we know spaces like this to come together are more than the sum of their parts. However, The Floating Front Room offers a light, open, informal place in our work to take a load off, spend quality time, and help us all to stay afloat as more pressure is put onto us.

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FOOD & DRINK

— A complimentary drink and cake is offered to absolutely everyone visiting The Floating Front Room as a universal principal, as part of every visit. If you need further refreshments during the same sitting, additional drinks and cakes are also available for a small contribution (£1/£1.50) with card and cash accepted. This contribution is largely in place to ensure those who visit next have the same a range of refreshments to enjoy, and to encourage only having what we need to avoid unncessary waste together, though feel free to top up your reserves in the way you see fit.

— Coffee available includes pourovers / hand brewed coffees, alongside any styles you love from your favourite coffee menus such as flat white, americano, latte, and more, always made using delicious locally roasted coffee from Quarter Horse Coffee (https://quarterhorsecoffee.com/).

— A range of teas from Teapigs (https://www.teapigs.co.uk/), including herbal / caffeine-free teas (all using compostable teabags made from corn starch), and hot chocolate are also available.

— Dairy and Minor Figures (https://minorfigures.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooZE-hqxDtqn_5EpEVqaH6m2tXkJTL_yaj_66mkOAK0NshgCIlA) oat milk options are available for all drinks.

— A range of vegan and gluten free cakes by local bakers are always available as the perfect accompaniment to your cuppa.

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B.Y.O.C (Bring Your Own Cup)

As part of our mission to reduce waste and move all of our processes together towards deep care and regenerative relationships with land, materials, and each other we are no longer going to be serving drinks in single use cups.

We would therefore love to encourage you to bring your own keep cup or mug when you come to visit, if you have one. If not, we will also have beautiful reusable cups made from coffee grounds for you to use during your visit, but please remember to return these before you leave ready for the next visitor who comes after you. These are a shared resource to ensure hot drinks remain accessible to more people, without us creating waste, so we thank you for practicing this together with us, as we make these shifts together.

If you fall head over heels in love with our cups, we will also have some available for you to make your own, in return for a small contribution, which you can then bring with you when you visit.

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ACCESS & FACILITIES

— The Floating Front Room is a dark green canal boat moored canalside at South Loop Park, Rotton Park Street, Birmingham, B16 0AB (https://g.co/kgs/Ptga3yn).

— All paths leading to The Floating Front Room through South Loop Park are flat and accessible. Primarily food and drink will be served via a hatch in the barge to enjoy outside, however if you wish to enter the boat itself for limited covered seating, please note that the boat has steps, so is not accessible to anyone in a wheelchair or for whom steps are a barrier.

— There is no formal seating outside, but there are benches and blankets available should you wish to relax in South Loop Park.

— Unfortunately we currently do not have any toilet facilities available, so please do factor this in when planning your visit.

— If you plan to enjoy your refreshments in South Loop Park, please dress to be comfortable outside in weather that may be changeable.

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OPENING TIMES

— The Floating Front Room will be open on most Tuesdays, 10am ― 4pm, throughout 2025 from Tuesday 29th April onwards.

— The exceptions are that The Floating Front Room will be closed on Tuesday 17th June and Tuesday 26th August 2025, but we will look to signpost other local coffee mornings and cafes to enjoy on these days.

— Additional opening times may also become available throughout the year as part of special days, celebrations, other hosting on site, or just because the weather is glorious. To find out about these directly as they are arranged, please sign up to our Neighbourhood Updates WhatsApp Channel at: bit.ly/CIVICSQUAREupdates (

Description supplied by the event organiser.