‘Amazing’ outpouring of support for cafe staffed by former prisoners

A cafe staffed by ex-inmates will seek to stop the revolving door of reoffending and break down barriers when it opens next year.

“There’s nothing like it in Bristol. We can’t think of anywhere better to start this off than this area,” says Suzanne Thompson, the brains behind the project, on the new venture that will be opening in a disused building on Gloucester Road.

Located just in front of HMP Bristol, the Ministry of Justice-owned building will be transformed into a cafe and retail space that will provide transitional, paid employment for people who have just got out of prison.

Led by The Key: Unlock Potential, the project has the backing and support of some well-known Bristol people, including Bristol chefs Simon and Tom Green, who will be partnering with the charity on the food side of things, and street artist Inkie, who is set to design the logo.

But it has also received an outpouring of support from the local community, many of whom have come forward with offers to help.

“We have been over the moon with the support. We have had amazing offers from people wanting to sponsor a table of thinking of ways they can help fundraise,” says Suzanne, the CEO of The Restore Trust, a Horfield-based social enterprise that supports people back into work.

She came up with the idea for the cafe after noticing recurring barriers to employment among the former offenders she works with.

“We noticed there’s a recurring theme with people leaving prison in that they lacked a lot of confidence in applying for work,” says Suzanne, speaking to Bristol24/7 about the origins of the cafe, which will be called The Key.

She continues: “Often, placing someone straight into a job, they don’t always have the skills to maintain that job.”

The building on Gloucester Road that is set to be transformed into The Key Cafe – photo: Ellie Pipe

The new cafe will offer transitional placements so people leaving prison can gain skills that employers expect and get used to the structure of the working day, making the move into permanent employment easier to manage and maintain.

While there have been similar projects within the prison estate, Suzanne says this is the first that will be public facing.

“It has to sustain itself but ultimately it’s for the good of the community,” she explains.

“It’s recognition that, as a community, we all have an interest in reducing reoffending and recognising that a lot of people have not had access to the opportunities that most of us did as young adults.

“The prison has been very embedded in the community for a long time so it’s really about breaking down barriers and that stigma, whilst also supporting people to have a chance to turn their lives around.”

The Restore Trust CEO Suzanne Thompson says The Key cafe will help break down barriers to employment for former offenders – photo: Suzanne Thompson

The CEO of the Restore Trust says it costs more than £60,000 a year in public money to keep a person in prison and argues that we have to start thinking about how we are working with people differently to support them to become active members of society.

The Key: Unlock Potential board is chaired by Catrin MacDonnell, the co-founder of Papadeli. It has secured seed funding and raised more than £150,000 to get the cafe project off the ground and has recently been granted planning permission to transform the building on the junction of Cambridge Road and Gloucester Road, opposite the Golden Lion.

The cafe is set to open its doors early in 2024.

Main photo: The Restore Trust

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