What do you think of when you imagine prison food? Somewhere between beige canteen slop and the devil-may-care decadence of a death row dinner, I’d bet. Probably not something you’d want to part with your own money for, in any case.

The Clink Cafe is here to challenge those preconceptions - along with attitudes to offenders and their rehabilitation.

Based inside the Grade II listed Canada House on Chepstow Street, it could be any other city centre lunch spot with its smart, charcoal grey parquet flooring, glazed tiled walls, industrial tables and statement halo lighting.

But there’s one crucial difference - it’s staffed by former prisoners.

The cafe is run by the same charity behind The Clink restaurants, which operate at four prisons including HMP Styal near Wilmslow.

The training scheme aims to help offenders turn their lives around by equipping them with the qualifications, experience and confidence to find work on their release.

And it works: reoffending rates among those who take part in the scheme have halved according to a recent Ministry of Justice report.

The Clink Cafe is the charity’s first site off jail grounds, where graduates can continue their training towards nationally-recognised City and Guilds NVQ level 2 qualifications. The cafe also aims to help homeless young people off the street, offering training and employment to clients of homelessness charity Centrepoint too.

It’s a noble mission - but it can only work if the food is as good as the intentions.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

The Clink Cafe has a more informal offering than the fine dining prison restaurants, serving up coffee, sandwiches and salads aimed at the office lunch trade.

The menu is bang on trend, with brunch staples like avocado or scrambled tofu on toast jostling for space with wholesome bowls of sweet potato, kale, chickpeas, pomegranate and almonds or cauliflower cous cous with avocado and watermelon.

The lemon and herb chicken (£5.90) is a hearty but healthy bowlful: a plump and perfectly cooked chicken breast sliced over a bed of nutty black and yellow rice, crowned by fronds of salad leaves and a scattering of spring onion. A good dousing of lime brings it all to life - although it could do with a sprinkle more salt.

A smoked salmon sandwich (£5.90) is generously stuffed with thick slices of fish, chunky-cut cucumber and cream cheese. A creamy homemade coleslaw on the side is a nice touch too.

Service is a bit harried but endearingly so: the two staff are looking a little flustered after the lunchtime rush and are full of apologies when they think our lunch has taken a little longer than it should (we hadn’t complained).

When it does arrive one of the orders has been mixed up, but it’s quickly put right and sweetened by a couple of iced vanilla lattes on the house.

The coffee used to make them is a rich, dark roast sourced from Redemption Roasters, which trains young offenders in coffee roasting and barista skills at young offender institution HMP Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

The Clink’s commitment to rehabilitating prisoners goes far beyond the staff it employs, right down to the cake stands - made by Rough Stuff Oak, a woodwork scheme at The Mount prison in Hertfordshire - which groan with goodies like fudgy chocolate brownies and fluffy vanilla and apple traybakes (£2.50 each).

Customers are welcome to ask staff about their experiences; I spoke with a former Styal inmate who worked there when the cafe opened back in April about what the opportunity meant to her.

She had served a four and half month sentence for theft, and trained at The Clink during her time inside.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to get a job again. I thought I had ruined my life,” she told me.

“[The Clink] was so good, it just made you feel like you were in a proper job. They were really supportive and I had a support worker who I worked really closely with.

“A lot of people think prison is the end of the world - but it doesn’t have to be the end of your life.”

The Clink Cafe could compete with any good city centre coffee shop or sandwich bar with the food it serves - but more importantly it’s serving up second chances too.

The Clink Cafe, 3 Chepstow Street, Manchester, M1 5FW | theclinkcharity.org | Open Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 5.30pm

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