Neal Street Espresso – a speciality coffee shop with a difference.
With a history of transforming lives through our social enterprise work, Neal Street Espresso is taking speciality coffee to the next level in Covent Garden, London.
But we’re about much more than our great coffee. It’s the people who make it and at Neal Street Espresso, each of our highly skilled baristas has a story to tell.
Having fallen on tough times, they have each found themselves caught up in lives of crime or addiction, and in need of a second chance so that they can live the lives they dream of. And they’ve found this second chance at Neal Street Espresso.
With every cup you’re helping us provide jobs, training and support to our team who have found a new purpose in life and are determined to leave their old lives behind.
What’s happening at Neal Street Espresso is part of a bigger story.
The Message Enterprise Story.
Turn on the news or search online and you’ll soon come across stories of prisoners struggling to leave their old criminal lifestyles behind when they’re released.
With no job or safe place to live men, women and young people who are desperate to turn their lives around can get easily drawn back into old habits and behaviours. Quickly they can find themselves back behind bars and trapped in the ‘cycle of re-offending’ that’s all too real.
Something new was needed, and the Message Enterprise Centre (MEC) was born in Manchester in 2013.
Having worked in prisons for over 15 years we knew that to thrive outside of prison, individuals need jobs and training to step into, and this is just what the MEC provides in our social enterprises.
At Neal Street Espresso each of our trainees has a full-time job that pays London living wage, accredited training, mentoring and the support they need to turn their lives around. It’s a model that has proven itself to work time and again and is transforming lives across the globe.
Whilst nationally 29.0% of men and women re-offend within 12 months at the MEC our rate is just a fraction of this at 2.0%.
Our Christian faith underpins everything we do and gives each team member the hope they need as they transform their life.
Neal Street Espresso is our first speciality coffee shop and we’re excited to have you as our customer and part of our story.