Press Release

30th April 2010

Café Alabaré officially opened by the Deputy Mayor of Salisbury

Café Alabaré in Salisbury was packed to the rafters today as it celebrated its official opening (Fri 30th April).

Around 50 people visited the café at 14 Endless Street (formerly Endless Life Café).  The deputy Mayor of Salisbury Cllr. Brian Dalton, joined by members of the Café Alabaré team, marked the official opening with the cutting of a ribbon.

Representatives from local support agencies, members of the local community and staff and service users from other Alabaré projects were able to meet the café Alabaré team and find out more about what they do.  They also had the chance to sample some of the delicious homemade treats that Café Alabaré has to offer.

Alabaré Chief Executive Andrew Lord welcomed the opening of Café Alabaré, the charity’s latest venture, saying:

“I am delighted to see Café Alabaré up and running and am really excited about its future as a social enterprise.  It is great to have an Alabaré project right at the heart of the city helping local vulnerable adults to gain vital work experience and training.  The new café looks wonderful and the food looks and tastes great.  I would like to thank everyone who has played a part in making this happen.”

About Café Alabaré

Café Alabaré, which is open to the public, provides training and work experience to vulnerable adults. 

It came about as a result of the merging of Alabaré’s Cana Coffee Shop and the Endless Life Café.  Cana Coffee Shop was a training café for people with learning disabilities.   It operated one morning a week from the United Reform Church, providing refreshments and homemade cake to the public.  Demand for places on the training programme was so high that Alabaré wanted to expand and develop the service and the opportunity arose to take over the running of the former Endless Life Café.

Café Alabaré has been completely refurbished and offers training and work experience to a total of 12 vulnerable adults five days a week.  Each trainee will receive personalised training based upon their own personal aims and goals and there will be the chance to work towards recognised accredited qualifications. 

The café will be run as a social enterprise.  A social enterprise is “a business or service with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners”.

Customers can expect to enjoy wonderful food made from ethically sourced ingredients, which can be eaten in or taken away.  It is hoped that eventually the ingredients used will be grown on Alabaré allotments at the Barford Countryside Unit. And it is not just food on offer, customers also have the chance to view and buy locally hand-crafted goods, which are on display inside the café.   

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