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Clapham Common station: Homeless-run Tube coffee kiosk opens Clapham Common station: Homeless-run Tube coffee kiosk opens
(about 3 hours later)
The first coffee shop on the London Underground staffed by formerly homeless people has opened at Clapham Common Tube station.The first coffee shop on the London Underground staffed by formerly homeless people has opened at Clapham Common Tube station.
Homeless men and women are offered training as a barista by charity Change Please and are then paid the London Living Wage.Homeless men and women are offered training as a barista by charity Change Please and are then paid the London Living Wage.
Change Please founder Jamal Ezell, said "all profits" would go back into helping homelessness.Change Please founder Jamal Ezell, said "all profits" would go back into helping homelessness.
There are plans for more Tube kiosks to be opened as part of the scheme.There are plans for more Tube kiosks to be opened as part of the scheme.
In addition to providing barista training, the charity supports its trainees with accommodation and help with their mental wellbeing.In addition to providing barista training, the charity supports its trainees with accommodation and help with their mental wellbeing.
Mo Austins, 33, a former engineer from Egypt, is one of those who has benefited from the scheme after he became homeless when he moved to the UK.
He said: "I was sleeping on the buses with no career. Now, they train me as a barista so I am working with them full-time and my life has changed.
"I feel like I work with a family, people ask about me and talk to me. Before I was moving from place to place, now they give me a deposit for a new house.
"They do everything to help you in anyway they can."
Change Please has 32 sites across the country, mainly in London but also in Coventry, Cambridge and Manchester.Change Please has 32 sites across the country, mainly in London but also in Coventry, Cambridge and Manchester.
The new kiosk at Clapham Common station is the first of its kind on the Tube network.
Mr Ezell said more and more homeless people are seeking refuge on public transport.Mr Ezell said more and more homeless people are seeking refuge on public transport.
"What we try to do is bring people off the buses and into employment and back into society and to use these empty, disused, kiosks," he said."What we try to do is bring people off the buses and into employment and back into society and to use these empty, disused, kiosks," he said.
"All profits go back into lifting people out of homelessness.""All profits go back into lifting people out of homelessness."
At the scene
BBC London's Greg McKenzie
It has been very busy here - a coffee a minute at this little kiosk inside Clapham Common station.
The coffee is usually sold in little vans outside stations, but with Transport for London's backing, this is the first of its kind inside a station on the Tube network.
All the cups are recyclable and 100% of the profits go back into helping people - customers are loving it.
People here are pleasantly surprised, and are really happy with the concept.