THE latest review of a fine-dining restaurant at HM Prison Styal, in Cheshire, where the food is ready and cooked by female prisoners who’re studying for qualifications within the catering trades, has described it as “A taste of redemption”.
Reviews discuss with its location in a converted 100-year-old chapel just outside the formal perimeter of the prison grounds. Many features of the chapel were retained, including the organ pipes, the vaulted ceiling, and the stained-glass windows. It opened as The Clink, Styal, in April 2015.
“Culinary excellence meets social rehabilitation here,” the web site I Love Manchester says. Besides praising the food as something that “wouldn’t be misplaced in a few of Manchester’s high-end restaurants”, it describes The Clink as “a transformative space where offenders get a second probability in life”.
The charity works with the Prison and Probation Service to coach and rehabilitate people in prison and reduce reoffending rates. People with between three and 24 months of their sentence left to serve volunteer for the programme, going through full-time training in a simulated skilled working environment while working towards City and Guilds National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs).
Styal is the second of its restaurants: its Brixton counterpart — the primary to be arrange — was TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice restaurant for 2022, placing it in the highest ten per cent of restaurants worldwide. Clink trained 900 students in 40 prisons within the UK in 2023, delivered about 550 NVQ qualifications, and placed 52 per cent of scholars into employment. It now employs 80 staff.
Finlay Scott, the charity’s chair and co-founder, with Kevin McGrath, became fascinated with the rehabilitation of inmates after a Business within the Community event organised by the Prince’s Trust. “Groups of businessmen were taken to witness first-hand issues they were unlikely to come across in their very own environment. My group visited prisons,” he told the Church Times.
“What really struck me was, a prisoner was released with £46 (increasing to £76 in 2021) and their possessions in a bin liner. If the prisoner didn’t have a house, a job, or a relationship, they were set as much as fail, with little hope of rehabilitation. I made a decision to focus my philanthropic efforts into this space.
“My ‘day job’ has at all times been within the private sector, but my philanthropic work with The Clink has been probably the most rewarding thing I even have done in my life.”
The Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, is a trustee of the charity. The Styal chapel had had the identical latest lease of life as Clink graduates looked forward to after their release, he said. “Chef trainers teach to a spread of industry-recognised qualifications, whilst other Clink staff work with prisoners around their time of release, supporting them of their return to life outside the gates.
“Whilst the restaurants are probably the most visible face of The Clink’s work, many more men and girls are working for his or her qualifications in prison kitchens. Others prepare food as a part of the Clink events-catering programme, bringing the identical prime quality to corporate hospitality functions, particularly within the London area.
“As a trustee of the charity, I could have a level of bias, but, as the big variety of positive reviews now appearing in mainstream newspapers, magazines, and on web sites indicate, I’m removed from alone in considering it a terrific method to enjoy top-class dining whilst knowing every penny I spend goes to make an actual difference.”
The Bishop had responded on social media to the newest accolade for The Clink, delighting in yet further endorsement of its “enabling prisoners to construct latest lives, one forkful at a time”.
