The Clink Charity

The Clink Charity helps people facing significant barriers to employment to develop skills and create more positive futures. A grant from the Company supported The Clink Café, a professionally run hospitality training programme for young people who have been excluded from education, employment and other opportunities. Based in Lambeth, the programme combines practical experience in a working café with recognised qualifications and individually tailored support, helping young people build their hospitality and customer-service skills as well as their confidence and readiness for work.

The results have been extremely encouraging. Since the programme began, 44 young people have enrolled and, together, learners have achieved 148 City & Guilds qualifications. Every graduate to date has progressed into further education, training or employment, with around a third securing paid work through Clink Events, the charity’s social enterprise catering business. Learners have also reported increased confidence, motivation and ambition. The Café is intended to continue for the long term, providing a supportive route into education and employment for young people who might otherwise struggle to access these opportunities.

Clink Cafe, student presenting his work

Clink Cafe, students and chef

My 17-year-old daughter graduates from The Clink Café programme this week, and it has been transformational. The opportunity came at a time when she’d been out of mainstream school for over two years. She found the environment of secondary school overwhelming and stressful, and by the end of year 8 she was burnt out and unable to attend. We subsequently found out that she was autistic and hoped that would trigger a more supportive offer from the school, but it never came. I took her off roll at the beginning of Year 10, and she managed to get some GCSEs by studying at her own at home. When she started at the Clink Café, she hadn’t been in a group education/training environment for over two years. Her world had become very small, and this had massively impacted her mental health and confidence. The Clink Café gave her a safe space to start to grow again. The staff team went the extra mile in working to understand her needs, supporting her to go at a pace that felt right for her, whilst affirming her skills and qualities along the way. They listened to her, made her feel valued, gave her place in which she felt she belonged and helped her find her voice. As she graduates, as well as gaining qualifications and better being a cook, she is literally a different person. Her confidence has grown, along with her sense of self and her ability to tackle challenges and make choices about her life. Her mental health has improved tenfold, and she now has hope for her future. We are so grateful. - Parent of a 2025 Clink Café graduate

Finishing our work with the first cohorts of students at The Clink Training Café was such an uplifting moment. They have come so far since the day they walked through the door, and we could not be more proud of them. They have demonstrated such remarkable progress, not only in terms of the skills they have developed, but also in their teamwork, attendance, time management, and confidence. The Clink Training Café is building community resilience in the London Borough of Lambeth. It highlights how young people can change the course of their futures when they are given the right intervention, support, and opportunities to take agency over their path in life. We are proud of our young people, and we cannot wait to see what they do next with the opportunities presented to them. - Donna Marie Edmonds - CEO