Fair Shot Café, London’s first not-for-profit cafe will relocate from Mayfair to The Yards making it the first not-for-profit café in the West End, Covent Garden. The Café which aims to transform the lives of young people with learning disabilities by giving them hospitality training will open on the 1st of February 2023 only at The Yards, Covent Garden.

The new site will fulfill the charity’s need for bigger premises and bring colourful Brunch dishes, fresh pastries and speciality coffees to Covent Garden. To celebrate the launch, it will be handing out 300 complimentary coffees on the 1st and 4th of February.

Founded by young entrepreneur Bianca Tavella in 2019, Fair Shot Café is a not-for-profit social enterprise and will be the first of its kind in Covent Garden. Designed to combat the 94% unemployment rate amongst adults with learning disabilities, Fair Shot works by enrolling 12 young adults with a learning disability into their hospitality training programme each year. During the programme, Fair Shot’s trainees spend four days a week at the cafe and one day a week at their partner college to carry out the educational side of the course. At the cafe, the trainees learn the ropes alongside a mentor and a job coach.

Fair Shot Café will occupy a 2,224 sq ft unit at 3 Slingsby Place, The Yards, relocating from its previous space at South Molton Street, Mayfair. Set to open in February, Fair Shot Café is a not-for-profit social enterprise and will be the first of its kind in Covent Garden.

Using the customer service, organisation, cooking and coffee skills that they gain from their year in the café, the trainees are then placed by Fair Shot’s expert team in organisations across London – from fellow hospitality groups, such as Aquavit and Treehouse Hotel to corporate offices including The Office Group and Associated British Foods, the team work hard to ensure each trainee finds their dream job. The trainees are also offered ongoing support for the first 6 months of their new roles to ensure smooth and positive career development.

On behalf of Longmartin Properties Ltd, Simon Taylor, Property Director at the Mercers’ Company, said: “Over the past year, The Yards has welcomed several distinctive F&B concepts and we feel immensely proud to be welcoming Fair Shot Café to the destination. As a brand which represents and reflects community, equality, and possibility, we are delighted to be the chosen location for their only café, reinforcing our position as an F&B destination within central London that encompasses variety and difference. Fair Shot will diversify and bring something new to our culinary line-up, and we are looking forward to welcoming them in February.”

Fair Shot Café will join The Yards’ diverse F&B offering, including newly opened Gura Gura, the Pan-Asian concept which spotlights Japanese, Thai and Chinese elements, and Burmese restaurant, Lahpet, and independent bakery brand, Buns From Home.