A NEW craft and arts shop which has opened in Highbridge aims to help people to ‘combat social isolation, grow in confidence and make new friends.’

Create You opened in Highbridge’s Market Street earlier this month and prides itself on working with the community for the community.

The shop, which is owned by Leila Browning, sells art supplies and hosts individual and group art and craft sessions for people of all ages and abilities.

Leila, who runs the shop with her friend Jenny Fox, said she was inspired to open the store after finding art helped her mental health.

She said: “When I’m creating, my mind drifts and worries are pushed away, as a different part of the brain is engaged and I decided I’d like to introduce others to the same idea.

“I believe that being creative helps us learn more about ourselves, it gives us some down time and creates a sense of mindfulness in the process .

“Before we opened the shop we were running art workshops in the community frequently and our aim with our new premises is to bring everything together under one roof.

“We’re proud to say we’ve broadened our aim to include other arts like beading, poetry, felting to the shop so our customers can enjoy a wide variety of arts and crafts.

“Social isolation and loneliness are two huge issues in our society today. We want to help out as many people as we can and encourage people to get creative.

“Here we do all sorts of workshops here and we have had people of all ages getting involved which is fantastic.

“I believe that being creative helps us learn more about ourselves, it gives us some down time and creates a sense of mindfulness in the process.

“I want other people to find that and enjoy being creative in a comfortable

Leila said she has received an ‘overwhelming’ amount of support from the community since she opened the store and said she has high hopes for the future.

She said: “The support we have had from the community has been amazing, people have been so positive about the shop and we have had lots of people coming in to try our workshops.

“We will be starting more workshops in the new year and are always open to requests for workshops for people in the community.

“We want to work with the community to make this shop a place for the community so please pop in and speak to us if you have any ideas.”