Cafe staffed by ex-offenders planned for Bristol

Claire Allsop (far left) with Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Shelford, Police and Suzanne Thompson

A fundraising campaign has been started to open a not-for-profit café helping ex-offenders develop employment skills.

A charity and social enterprise are aiming to open The Key Café to recruit prison leavers which they said would help to prevent reoffending.

They aim to raise £150,000 to convert a disused office in Bristol into a café.

The Key Café project has been offered a lease within a building owned by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in front of HMP Bristol on Gloucester Road.

The Key: Unlock Potential charity aims to provide a safe working environment for prison leavers and offenders to regain routine and gain new skills.

It will work closely with The Restore Trust, a social enterprise, which helps prison leavers.

Its CEO Suzanne Thompson said: "The reason why we are doing this, giving people the skills and training, is that it is the most significant way to stop reoffending."

Claire Allsop said Restore Trust had opened a new chapter in her life

The café will be staffed by people released on temporary license from local prisons and those who have recently left.

Food for the café will be prepared in the prisons' commercial kitchen by prisoners.

The £150,000 will fund a project manager, as well as the design, construction and development of the café, which the MoD has agreed to lease.

'New chapter'

Claire Allsop, 39, from Bristol is an ex-offender who has benefited from the Restore Trust's work.

She was given a suspended 18-month sentence in 2019 for an assault charge against a former partner.

She also spent five weeks in prison after breaching bail. Her partner was not convicted in relation to the incident.

Ms Allsop said: "I do have remorse for my actions and regret how it happened.

"It wasn't a healthy situation and wish it hadn't happened like that."

She said: "Restore Trust was the start of a new life for me. Before I spent time with them I wouldn't even make eye contact with anyone.

"When you come out of prison you have a lot of trepidation to the outside world, am I going to be judged?

"Where am I going to get references? It was really frightening thinking you need to get a whole new career, quite scary."

Restore Trust helped Ms Allsop complete courses to gain new skills and become a tutor for the charity.

"The way they've helped me is really incredible," she said.

"I've started to get my confidence back and have had amazing support, I can see how it stops reoffending."