Café celebrates international grant win

The community owned and run Bonnington Café is this week putting final touches to some major upgrades, after winning an international grant. 

The Café is one of 70 community restaurants in the UK, Japan, Mexico, Australia and Canada, which between them have shared a combined total of $1m in a scheme run by the International Downtown Association Fund, supported by American Express. 

Bonnington Café has been serving vegetarian and vegan food since 1982. It was first run by local squatters, then by a long-running cooks’ collective, and today is directly managed by the Bonnington Square community, which also owns the community centre above the Café. 

Trustees of the Café have focused on some major upgrades with their grant spend, which would otherwise have been beyond reach for many years.

In the Café kitchen, a new stainless steel commercial ventilation system has been installed, which has hugely reduced both condensation and working temperatures for cooks and their helpers. There’s a new gas safety system, which monitors carbon dioxide levels and ventilation, to help keep cooks safe. And workspace in the kitchen has also been expanded by 30%. 

And for the first time in the Bonnington Cafe’s history, there’s also now a commercial dishwasher – getting through ten plates in just 90 seconds. Big piles of dirty dishes during a busy shift are finally a thing of the past. 

“Winning this grant from IDAF and American Express has made such a huge difference for us,” says Café trustee Chris Woods, who oversaw the kitchen works. “The Bonnington Café is in a wonderful old building which can also be hard to maintain. So we really wanted to focus on key upgrades, which would significantly improve conditions for our cooks, helpers and customers. Being able to create a brand new website for the Café was the cherry on top!”

Other news items

New cook joining us!

Rory Milanes is having his first shift with us on Tuesday 10th of December. Cooking has always been an interest of Rory’s since he was a teenager but he really got into it during his years of living above Italo, sharing his passion with his housemate and cooking for all his friends on the square. …

Tuesday Community Lunches are back

Everyone is welcome to our pay-what-you-can lunches every Tuesday from 11am to 2 pm. The Bonnington Centre has been successful in wining a grant from the London Borough of Lambeth Cost of Living Small Grants fund to provide a warm space, free Wi-Fi and vegetarian snacks and hot meals. Ela Ciercierska and her associates will …