Publican launches 'social enterprise' cafés

Glen Duckett from Thwaites pub the Eagle and Child in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, has set up the Stables Café in Heaton Park near Prestwich and will employ individuals who have been in prison and those in long-term unemployment.

Built on the site of the park’s former farm centre, the Stables Café has been transformed into a friendly and bright space for young people to eat and drink at.

Duckett, who set up the social enterprise EAT (Employment and Training) Pennine, has pledged to train and employ over 60 young people at the café over the next three years.

The café will serve home-made food such as posh fish fingers, salads, sandwiches and afternoon tea and there will also be a deli selling bread, chocolate and honey.

Many of the café’s ingredients are locally sourced including the honey which is produced from bees in Heaton Park.

“I wanted to demonstrate that you could run a viable hospitality business via a pub whilst being a social enterprise. The idea is that we give young people a chance and we run apprenticeships with local colleges and offer traineeship programmes. The reaction has been really positive,” said Duckett.

“All the produce is local and the café runs on the same ethos as the pub. Most of our produce comes from Lancashire and Yorkshire and we have some great suppliers.”

Further plans​

Duckett’s second venture – the Pavillion Café - is set to open in August at Heaton Park’s boating lake and will serve ice creams, milkshakes and afternoon tea.

The ice-cream parlour concept will follow the same employment philosophy as the Stables Café.

“The concept is basically an ice cream parlour that will run with the same format as the café in which we will be employing more young people. The site will open within the next few weeks and depending on the opportunities available the idea will be to open more sites in the future,” said Duckett.