Issue 101 / July 2019

“Taking greater care
for those around you –
enacted through active
community organising
– allows people to
have power over the
decisions that affect
their lived experiences”
is how it will be strong as a business,” Grace tells me. Funding
has helped the business reach a certain point of comfort, but
above all, conversations between people, and continuous mutual
support are what injects energy and life into this space, and
that is what will help the launderette sustain itself in the future
– Kitty’s recognise the value of people – “the guy at Homebaked
who comes in everyday and tells a joke and gets off”. It feels
important and valuable to recognise how spaces such as Kitty’s,
which have managed to become relatively autonomous, and
are dedicated to working with people, can not only improve the
conditions that we live in, but begin to completely shift the way
we relate and interact with one another.
The city of Preston offers one inspiring example of how
businesses such as Kitty’s fit into wider societal models which
offer crucial infrastructural change. As a reaction to govenrment
cuts to local council and big businesses pulling out of planned
regeneration work, Preston shifted their thinking towards
principals of municipal socialism, and began to carry out
community wealth building often through using the services
of local businesses. Preston City Council now works with
institutions like schools, universities and hospitals to provide
contracts to businesses operating in and around Preston rather
than outsourcing to private national companies. The result is
more wealth being kept and spent between people within the
local area. There has also been a successful push for companies
to adopt the Living Wage, as well as the creation of the Preston
Co-operative Development Network, which aims to promote
worker co-operatives and employee buy-outs of businesses,
for example. When a council reduces the control they have, this
allows people to have greater control over their own agendas.
Much needed regeneration, but achieved through focused
organisation and community led businesses, committed to
steering well clear of private companies, who too often favour
quick profits at the expense of real investment in the area and the
people living there.
There is an alternative to austerity and cuts, which is actually
listening to the concerns people have in a more positive and
proactive way. We should reject the manifestation of racism and
nationalism that has become prominent in discussions around
how the UK has shifted and changed, and switch our thinking
to how we can tackle capital to improve everyone’s quality of
life. Simplified narratives and political slogans are not what will
provide this. As Grace says, “It’s just great, because you don’t
even have to get into a particularly theoretical conversation. You
know, all these racists who are going round, talking about making
England great, and of forgotten towns – this is the answer to
that, and it is actually trying to listen to those concerns, and do
something about them in a proactive way that’s tackling capital
more than it is blaming it on people who aren’t actually to blame.”
There is power in recognising the complexity of the world around
us, and one alternative which will begin to produce positive
change is a greater care for those around you, enacted through
active community organising which allows people to have more
power over the decisions that affect their lived experiences.
If we’re interested in the sort of social impact that Kitty’s
Launderette has, then our support is vital. Whether this means
doing your laundry there, employing Kitty’s as your commercial
laundry service, working with them on a project you have in mind,
or spending time in the space, your support will become a key
part of a much wider network of people all pushing for positive
and meaningful change in our communities and in our city. !
Words: Tom Doubtfire
Photogrpahy: Mark Loudon
kittyslaunderette.org.uk
Kitty’s Launderette is open Monday, Thursday and Friday 9.30am
to 8pm, and 10am to 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays. If you’d
like to contribute to the Talk Of The Washhouse project then
there are drop-in sessions every Thursday from 1pm until 8pm.
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