The Mayor of Merton, Councillor Joan Henry, formally opened the new community pop-up café at Canons House & Grounds, Mitcham on Saturday 23 July. Canons House & Grounds is a community project funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund.

The pop-up café called Canons Café by Ja’Tasty, is the result of a collaboration between the council (Greenspaces, Future Merton, Towards Employment), Unique Talent, Solowood Recycling and local volunteers.

The café will be open during the school summer holidays and is managed by Unique Talent and their catering outlet Ja’Tasty. As well as providing the community with healthy food and drinks options, the team will also be working with the council’s Towards Employment team to provide employment and work experience to local young people.

In the lead up to the café opening, the council supported a group of young Merton residents to complete a work experience programme where they assisted in the furniture build, gaining valuable experience and employability skills in the process. All wood used for the café’s furniture build is reclaimed wood supplied by Solowood Recycling who lead on the build project.

The opening event was well attended, around 300-400 people came to support and check out the new café, as well as representatives from all the organisations who took part in the project.

The young people were presented with certificates and gift vouchers by the Mayor for completing their two-week work experience. The event also had plenty of entertainment for customers, including a steel pan performance, DJ Set – with the option to come and have a go yourself and a fun circus skills activity.

The Mayor of Merton, Councillor Joan Henry, said: “I am delighted to open the new Canons Café in Mitcham. Meeting all the young people involved in the building and running of the café was a privilege. I would recommend residents make a visit to experience it for themselves.”

Councillor Natasha Irons, Cabinet Member for Local Environment, Green Spaces & Climate, said: “I would like to welcome everyone to the Canons. This project is an example of the council’s commitment to a more sustainable future, whilst providing local young people with invaluable work experience. I would like to thank all our partners and council staff who have worked together to ensure that this wonderful local facility will serve the whole community.”

Canons Café by Ja’Tasty is now open for business seven days a week from 10am to 5pm.

Find out more about what is happening at Canons House & Grounds.