One of Southfields empty retail spaces will soon be filled with warm drinks and tasty food, courtesy of Feel Good Coffee.
On Saturday 8 June, the business will open next to Gail’s on the corner of Wimbledon Park Road and Replingham Road promising “really good coffee” as well as a range of toasties, pastries and cakes.
The company has been running coffee carts in Battersea for several years but this will be its first bricks-and-mortar shop. The business is an offshoot of Putney charity Regenerate that has been running for over a decade, having moved from sandwich catering to mobile coffee delivery during the pandemic.
Apart from its products making people feel good, the name “Feel Good” comes from the organisation’s charitable nature: supporting young people in the local area, as well as 10 per cent of the profits going to feed children at partner programs in Kenya and Romania.
“It’s the feel good element,” Operations and Communications Manager, Aimee Jackson, explained to Putney.news. “You’re not just buying a coffee, you’re supporting young people; giving them the opportunity to thrive.”
Mentoring, counselling and employment
Originally established in 2000 to provide young people on the Alton Estate in Roehampton a sense of community and opportunity, Regenerate has expanded across Putney and also offers mentoring and counselling services as well as an employment service.
That’s where the bakery and coffee business comes in. “Young people face barriers to employment; it’s especially difficult if they don’t have experience,” explains Jackson. The bakery, cart, and now coffee shop will serve as the first rung on the employment ladder for dozens of local young people.
You have to be referred by local governments services the youth justice, or CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), then pass an application to get onto the program, but its success has been such that Regenerate currently has a waiting list. The organisation itself employs 25 young people, and the new Feed Good Coffee shop in Southfields should bring that up to 40.
As for why they choose a site next to Gail’s and in the opposite corner to a Caffe Nero, Jackson explains: “We’ve been trying to find somewhere in Putney where we can serve our community and this was a good spot – we didn’t want to miss out.”
But why should people go to Feel Good Coffee and not one of its nearby competitors? “We make really good coffee,” she smiles.
