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“Genuinely revolutionary”

To ensure Joy is accessible to all Open Door is working with consultants Dancefloor Intimacy. Ali Wagner has been working with our community over the last few months to ask them what they want from Joy and how can the spaces be as welcoming as possible. Ali answered some of our questions on the work so far.

What attracted you to the Joy project?

The holistic mission. I was attracted to the fact that Joy is not just a gig venue, it’s a space explicitly designed to support mental health and improve people’s lives. While music venues often serve as important third spaces for community, Joy goes further by embedding wellbeing at its core. Equally compelling were the people involved. The team at Open Door and the Birkenhead community were remarkably kind, caring, and genuinely invested in creating something meaningful. Their curiosity and hope for the future were contagious, the kind of environment that made me genuinely excited.

“Joy is positioned to be genuinely revolutionary for the community”

Dancefloor Intimacy primarily works with nightlife venues. How do you see nightlife, community and mental wellbeing intersecting?
Nightlife venues, community music spaces and mental health have so many intersections. For me personally, as a queer person, dancefloors have been a place where I’ve learned about and expressed my sexuality, and met people from my community. Most of my closest friendships were formed on the dancefloor, these spaces can truly become third spaces for minority communities, places that genuinely support mental health. On the flip side, they can also impact mental health negatively when they don’t nurture people or support their access needs. It really comes down to how intentional these spaces are about who they’re for.

Tell us briefly about the consultation process from the very beginning to where we are now.

It started with a call with Lee about coming up to Birkenhead to meet the team and see Joy, and we decided at Bloom that I’d work with them to make Joy as accessible as possible for Disabled individuals and the wider Wirral community. From there, the conversation grew into something bigger, we agreed to host focus groups and make this a truly community-led research piece. We ended up running two in-person focus groups at Bloom and one online, all open to Disabled, Neurodivergent, Deaf, Blind and chronically ill people from the Wirral, inviting them to share what they wanted from Joy. We also sent out a wider questionnaire to capture more voices. All of those conversations were then translated into the recommendations report for Joy.

“That kind of moment can genuinely change the direction of someone’s life.”

What are the main takeaways you’ve learned about Wirral and its community from this project?

The people of Wirral are absolutely thirsty for new spaces – new gig venues, new community hubs. You can feel it. Everyone’s itching for it, and Joy is positioned to be genuinely revolutionary for the community there.

What are the most exciting opportunities for a project like Joy?

I think its most exciting opportunity is to provide a third space for people in the Wirral who often feel left out of the conversation, or like they don’t get the same as other parts of the UK. Beyond that, it has the chance to bring new music acts and experiences to Birkenhead that could inspire a generation and open people’s minds. And there’s something really special about the proximity of everything under one roof, someone might come to Joy to use the mental health facilities and find themselves wandering into a gig almost by accident. They push themselves a little out of their comfort zone, they enjoy it, they learn something about themselves. That kind of moment can genuinely change the direction of someone’s life.

Read the full recommendations report from Dancefloor Intimacy here

You recently visited the Joy site. In terms of implementing your recommendations, what did you see from the build at this stage?

It was tough to get a full picture because it was very much still a construction site with builders everywhere! But what I could see was promising, it’s already clearly physically accessible for wheelchair users. They’ve been careful to include ramps, enough turning circle space, large accessible toilets. The rest will become a lot more apparent on my next visit, I think.

Finally, what are your top tips for wellbeing?

Go dancing, either alone or with friends.

Listen to music, and if you can’t pick something, discover new music on NTS.

Go for a walk near a body of water.

See the spaces of Joy take shape

Build developments continue at pace as we approach the building handover. February saw rendering complete on the outside of the building so you can see progress if you’re going down Cleveland Street. Also captured here and shared over on our insta:

Multi-use venue space POV towards the stage 
External view of the super smooth rendered building 
Light and bright gallery space with window wall 
This will be your cafe space for cuppas and chats 
Spaces for our NHS partners who will be part of Joy 

We’re excited to add the signature Open Door Charity colour to these walls to make it a bright and joyful space for our community. Keep following our socials for more updates on the build as well as the opening programme!

Crucial impacts and exciting plans

Open Door Charity was delighted to welcome partners, colleagues and friends to our impact event Stories of a Setting Sun in February. As well as sharing our achievements from the year gone and reflecting on the strides Open Door has made during our time at Bloom Building, we looked forward to moving into our new home – Joy – later this year.

Directors Lee and Alex spoke of the exciting opportunities the space will bring and the numerous benefits Joy can have for communities of Wirral and further afield. Project Director George gave an update on the build with the great news that we’re on course to receive the building handover in June this year. This will precede a soft opening programme followed by a full opening in Autumn.

Sign up to the Joy Bulletin for the latest

Ali from our partners Dancefloor Intimacy presented the findings from their consultation work which has led to a report of recommendations to ensure Joy is welcoming to all. You can read the report here.

We want to thank everyone that came along to Stories of a Setting Sun to make it a joyous event. Our seven years at Bloom have given Open Door so much we’re forever grateful to those that have joined us on the journey so far. We’re even happier that you’re joining us for this next exciting phase!

What is Joy, where is Joy and when’s it opening?

Dance Floor Intimacy are helping us build the most welcoming space

A key part of shaping Joy has been listening to the community who will use it. Dancefloor Intimacy, an accessibility consultancy specialising in reimagining cultural spaces, together with Open Door have been exploring what makes cultural venues welcoming – and what prevents people from taking part. 

Sign up to the Joy Bulletin for the latest

Through focus groups and community questionnaires, Disabled, Deaf, Neurodivergent, chronically ill, visually impaired, and learning-disabled participants shared their experiences and hopes for a space where everyone can feel safe, comfortable, and included. 

“A venue where nobody has to arrive with an explanation, and where expression, celebration, and belonging are available to all.”

Their insights have been transformed into clear design and operational recommendations – ensuring that accessibility isn’t an add-on, but the foundation of how Joy will look, feel, and function.

What is Joy, where is Joy and when’s it opening?

The findings point toward a powerful opportunity: to build a venue where nobody has to arrive with an explanation, and where expression, celebration, and belonging are available to all.

At a time when loneliness, mental health challenges, and limited cultural choice have shaped everyday life for many across Wirral and beyond, Joy has the potential to shift the landscape – offering connection, identity, opportunity, and pride.

This is just the beginning. Dancefloor Intimacy will present their full report at our event Stories of a Setting Sun on 27th February 2026 – RSVP here. The report shares the community voices, design principles, and recommendations guiding the project, and we can’t wait to see it come to life in Joy.

-RSVP to our special event at Bloom Building here–

An important milestone in our build was reached this month. A bright, welcoming space that will serve as the heart of the Joy building, The Orangery structure is now complete.

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You’ll find the Orangery to front of Joy facing out into our courtyard. The space will serve as a light, comfortable area to meet, wait or relax. We’ll have lots more building updates for you in the coming months – stay tuned!

What is Joy, where is Joy and when’s it opening?

Joy DJs Come Together

Great music is in the DNA of Open Door. When Joy – our new home – opens in Summer 2025 we want to make sure it’s alive with spirit-nourishing sounds. From the playlists in our coffee shop through live bands on our stage to expert jockeys on the decks, Joy will be a bastion of mood-enhancing music.

But we’re not hanging around. In the lead-up to opening Joy DJs will be spinning tunes around the region. We’re excited to bring our concept to gigs, events, partner venues and other spaces that aren’t traditional homes to mental health conversations.

Joy DJs recently played UCL Policy Lab’s Come Together event at the Labour Party conference in September. The event celebrated the This Place Matters project, an initiative that chimes with Joy’s mission of meaningful connection and social cohesion.

Sign up to the Joy Bulletin for the latest

In November we’re taking our tunes to our neighbours Future Yard to warm up for Wirral’s own fantastic Dream Machine at their headline gig. We’re also supporting shows from The Shipbuilders in December as well as The Pill and Youth Sector as part of Independent Venue Week in the new year.

To give you an idea, check out our ‘Formidable Joy’ playlist. A selection of upbeat, stellar songs that we hope give you a lift. However, Joy is all about meaningful connection so we want to hear your odes to joy. Find our Joy DJ posts on social media and comment with your favourite joyful tracks.

Go ahead … who knows, your selection might soundtrack a calming cuppa in our venue cafe next year. We can’t wait to hear your tracks.

What is Joy, where is Joy and when’s it opening?

What gives you joy?

When Joy’s doors open in Summer 2026 the important work of ​​creating meaningful connection and developing better ways of working and living begins. Together. But before then, the Open Door team are setting about laying the foundations for Joy.

In September we were at the British Science Festival in Liverpool. In Liverpool One’s Peter Square we got help building our Joy Machine. Hundreds of people took the time to add their ideas to the machine. The Joy Machine is fuelled by the question ‘What gives you Joy?’

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In the spirit of the festival, there is joyous science behind simply thinking about what makes you happy. When you pause to remember things that bring you joy – for our friends at the British Science Festival it was everything from silence to skydiving, Tranmere Rovers to Chappell Roan, photography to sharing music – you’re actually giving your brain a little workout.

Positive emotions fire up your reward pathways, spark creativity, and even help you bounce back from stress faster (cheers, neuroplasticity!). We broaden our thinking and build resilience over time. Plus, it beats your brain’s bad habit of focusing on the negative.

And now the Joy Machine can help you. From the start of November you’ll see what brings people Joy. The Joy Machine board will be outside our new home the Old Treasury Annexe on Cleveland Street, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead. Take away some ideas, get thinking of what brings you joy, be part of it.

Keep your eye on more updates on the Joy Machine in the future.

What is Joy, where is Joy and when’s it opening?

Across the August bank holiday weekend (24th-25th), Joy featured as a venue showcasing live music as part of the the Future Now festival.

We kicked off the weekend with a Beats In Bliss yoga session from Inner Bliss, and followed it up with a whole host of bands and artists including Str^nge, Spilt Milk Society, the Montagues, Bright Town, and more.

What a weekend – big thanks to everyone that came down!

As of Thursday, 15th August 2024, Joy is under Open Door ownership!

This kicks off a very exciting period of development for Open Door and the space itself, and we can’t wait to take you along for what’s going to be a very special journey.

Watch this space for more…