Not a day goes by when youngsters aren't criticised in the press for congregating on street corners and acting in an antisocial manner.

Luckily, the case is very different in Bovey Tracey, as the young people of the town have a dedicated centre where they can meet.

Bovey Tracey Youth Cafe is a drop-in building for young people from the town and surrounding area. One of its main aims is to project a positive image to the wider community about the work it carries out with young people.

With a dedicated team of friendly staff and volunteers, the facility is there to support youngsters. All staff have experience in working with children from social work to trainee teachers.

Set on the town's main street, from the outside it looks like a house/shop, but inside tells a different story. The cafe is a haven for them to enjoy.

Youngsters are welcomed by comfy sofas, brightly coloured walls, while quirky graffiti-inspired pictures adorn the walls.

With activities to suit all tastes, youngsters of all ages are catered for. Sports fans can enjoy a game of pool or darts, the more creative can participate in cookery sessions or arts and crafts or they can just relax in the chill-out room, which is complemented with big bean bags.

There are also numerous computers for them to use for their homework or chat to friends on the internet and there are games consoles on which to play.

It also serves up a variety of snacks and refreshments, many of which are healthy, for the youngsters while they soak up the facilities on offer.

When the building is unused by the Youth Cafe, it acts as a base for community groups such as the town's art network and Bovey Tracey Climate Action.

The cafe came about in 2001, when the census revealed that there was an increase in young people in the town and it became apparent people under 'pub age' weren't catered for.

Eventually Bovey Tracey Youth Action was set up and the cafe was born.

In its early days, it experienced teething trouble. There were funding issues and, due to the behaviour of some of the youngsters, the facility wasn't fully supported by the town council or the police.

Thankfully, these difficulties have been ironed out and the cafe is thriving. Now more than 200 youngsters visit the cafe every month. On average, each night it opens 30 young people drop in to use the facilities on offer.

'We have turned this cafe around,'said Jeremy Butcher, operations manager at the Youth Cafe.

'We have a lot of support from the council and have a very good relationship with the police and the community support officers.

'When I started working at the cafe three years ago, there was a reputation of drugs and booze. We don't tolerate any of that at the cafe.

'If youngsters do go down that route, we have agencies on board to support them and we try to educate them to make informed choices.

'If we found drink or drugs on them in the cafe they would be banned. If any young person is banned for a particular reason, they do have a way back in. They can take part in a fresh-start system. They serve a period of time away from the cafe and then they can come and chat with us and we work out a behavioural contract.

'That works very well as they have to confront what went wrong. We then find a way forward as what we want is to have them in here, not out on the street.'

Youngsters are asked to follow a set of rules when using the fun cafe.

'We have house rules,' said Mr Butcher.

'They are very basic about respecting each other, staff and the building and no bullying. These could be seen as boundaries of life. We just expect reasonable behaviour while they are here and the majority behave brilliantly.'

In the last few years, the cafe has developed and, as well as providing a range of activities, it is now working with Connexions to help give career advice and guidance and also Night Stop which gives drugs and alcohol advice. It also strives to educate youngsters about green issues, and recently was asked to take part in Trail – Teignbridge Recycled Art in Landscape.

Currently, the cafe costs £45,000 a year to run. It aims to get funding from a variety of organisations and further afield.

The services on offer at the cafe are free, and it also heavily subsidises residential trips to the likes of Woodlands Adventure Park, to the cinema or bowling.

With the economic downtown, funding is becoming increasingly harder to attract.

'Luckily, when applying for funding we tick all the right boxes,' said Mr Butcher.

'Everything we do here is geared towards young people and is young people led. However it is getting difficult to obtain funding.

'We have a gentleman who gives us £18,000 a year, which is fabulous and goes a long way, but we still have a short fall.

'We are getting local businesses involved and asking for sponsorship for three years, that way we know we have some money coming in for the next few years. We are also looking into getting major funding from another investor.'

It currently is an independent charity and gets no funding or backing from the Devon Youth Service (DYS).

'I don't think we want to run it in a way DYS run other similar youth provisions,' said Mr Butcher.

'At the moment we are independent and it gives us more scope and we aren't governed by curriculum-based youth work. We are covering things in the curriculum anyway, such as cookery, and we have a music project going on, thanks to money from Gemini FM. I would not like to spend my life filling in paperwork to justify what the youngsters are doing.'

Youngsters from the age of 11 (Year 7) up to 18 use the cafe.

It aims to welcome all young people from the town, and does not exclude those with learning and behavioural problems.

'We have an autistic youngster who is excluded from school, and things had gone really bad for him. It was difficult to have him at the cafe, so we sat down and sorted out behavioural contracts with him and we have managed to work with him.

'If we can do our little bit to help here, we will welcome and accept any youngsters.'

Now the cafe is doing so well, Mr Butcher and the Youth Cafe team would like to see it expand and evolve in the future.

'I would like to see us well funded and possibly move into bigger premises. I'd also like to see something done for the youngsters in Heathfield,' said Mr Butcher.

'They need a youth worker there who can establish a relationship with the youngsters. What the users of the cafe like about this place is that it's their building and they identify with it. They need something similar at Heathfield too.'

Kim Horrell, 12, has been visiting the cafe for a year and really enjoys it.

'It's great to come here, or I'd only be sitting at home watching the TV,' she said.

'I really like using the computers and it is a great way of making new friends.'

Rosie White, 12, started using the cafe around the same time as Kim.

'I also have fun on the computers. I talk to friends on the internet that don't come to the cafe or live further away. I also love doing arts and crafts here and recently I made a sea creature for Trail.'

Bovey Tracey Youth Cafe opens Tuesday 6pm-9pm for Year 9 plus, Wednesday from 5.30pm-8.30pm for Year 7-8 and Thursday from 6pm-9pm for Year 9 plus.