Mission EmployAble opens Café on the Common in Chorleywood

Café on the Common has been opened by charity Mission EmployAble, which says it has already been busy with customers since the first day on Monday (January 16).

It is housed in a new cricket pavilion in Chorleywood Common, built in partnership with Chorleywood Cricket Club, and will help teach its staff catering, front-of-house and general work skills to prepare them for work.

Café on the Common (Image: Erica Bendall)

Mission EmployAble trustee Erica Bendall said: “The atmosphere on opening day was terrific, with couples, individuals and dog walkers raving about their experience.

“Our interns spent the previous week training in the café, so they were ship-shape for opening day and all our visitors said that their visit was worth waiting for.”

She added that the "stylish interior, delicious food, helpful staff, and beautiful setting on Chorleywood Common" led to the pavilion already being packed out with customers dining in or taking a reusable cup for a walk around the common.

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Café on the Common is open every day from 9am to 5pm during the winter and serves homemade breakfasts, light lunches, vegan and vegetarian options, cakes and pastries.

It also offers reusable cups (deposit price £5) for takeaways which can be taken for a walk around the common and brought back or kept, to be reused for the next visit.

Customers who have already tried the food and drink on offer have shared rave reviews on social media.

One posted on Facebook about the “fabulous coffee” while another highlighted the “lovely staff”, and a third mentioned the “fabulous interior”.

Two of Café on the Common's first customers (Image: Erica Bendall)South West Hertfordshire MP Gagan Mohindra also visited the café. He praised the “excellent lunch” and encouraged others to pop down, specifically recommending the pulled pork brioche.

The pavilion also houses a new training centre and each year it will train a team of interns with learning disabilities, giving them the skills and confidence to find paid work when they finish their programme.

After internships are complete, Mission EmployAble engages with local companies to help find future employment opportunities, which has previously even included catering at Warner Brothers Studios.