A trainee barista at Fair Shot

IT’S a shocking statistic – the unemployment rate among adults with learning disabilities is 93 per cent. A new café called Fair Shot in Covent Garden is helping to change this dynamic, offering a trailblazing hospitality training programme for 12 young adults each year.

Not that you would notice – at least at first sight.

“We’ve done a very careful job of not being in your face,” explains founder Bianca Tavella. “It’s subtle enough to prove a point.”

This not-for-profit café has just moved to prime spot in The Yards, a shiny new development also home to big restaurant brands such as Dishoom and Bill’s.

The ground floor is a large space – minimal and modern. The walls are decorated with African baskets and tropical pot plants frame the windows.

Fair Shot sells the full range of coffees and teas, pastries, focaccia sandwiches and brunch dishes.

On every shift, around a third of the staff are trainees. Their stories are typical of young people with learning disabilities.

One hadn’t left his house for two years due to the Covid pandemic, Tavella explains. “His legs weren’t used to walking any more. He wasn’t used to talking.”

Another struggled at first to engage with the work – watching shyly from the side lines. But then decided to get stuck in.

“When he picked it up it was like this rocket that was about to launch,” she recalls. He now has permanent employment in a coffee shop in Fulham Broadway.

When I popped in, the café was buzzing. The full brunch menu, served Wednesday to Sunday, features various savoury combinations served on sourdough – smoked salmon and ricotta, perhaps, or Oyster mushrooms with creamed spinach and garlic oil.

You will find two or three freshly made salads, such as a roasted beetroot salad with feta, radish and walnuts dressed with an orange mustard sauce.

Sweet dishes include overnight oats served with caramelised pear, maple syrup and cinnamon. Many dishes are gluten-free and vegan-friendly.

I sipped a turmeric latte and tried a Marmite and cheese swirl and a moist, intense chocolate cake topped with whipped peanut butter icing.

Fair Shot is a remarkable concept that looks set to thrive. Upstairs, they hire out a boardroom and events space. They deliver grazing boards and bagel platters to local businesses.

But why choose hospitality as a route to work?

“It’s the easiest and most practical platform for them to launch off,” explains Tavella. “There are so many different practical aspects: there’s the coffee; food; the washing up; the serving. We have trainees that are non-verbal, we have trainees that can’t write, can’t read – there’s no limitation.”

The remarkable thing about Fair Shot is that it aims so high – pitching itself in the same market as many top-class cafes in the city.

“That’s why I wanted to be in central London,” Tavella explains. “I wanted to disprove the notion that charity is poor, boring, small, sad. And now look at this – you would never think that we are a charity.”

Fair Shot
3 Slingsby Place, WC2E
020 7499 9007
www.fairshot.co.uk
@fairshotcafe