Feel Good coffee shop exclusively offers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds barista training and employment mentorship.
Founded in 2023, the business is backed by charity Regenerate, which aims to financially and mentally support young people who otherwise would find it difficult to secure employment.
This includes 18-24 year olds who have had previous troubled teenagehood or come from a lower socio-economic background.
A key aim of the charity is to offer mentoring support to the young people they employ, teaching them skills that will improve their employability and mindset when looking for further jobs.
In London in 2023, 14.6% of young people aged 16-24 were unemployed, roughly 4% higher than the average for the rest of England at 10.1%.
Between February – April this year 625,000 young people in the UK aged 16 to 24 were unemployed, an increase of 42,000 from the previous year.
It is estimated that one in eight young people across the country are out of employment, education or training in 2025, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
With the availability of entry-level positions decreasing rapidly, Feel Good say they want to offer a long-term solution to the problem.
As of 2024, 31 young people have been employed by Feel Good coffee.
Trainee barista Sav said: “It’s a way of young people getting into work especially nowadays when getting into work with zero experience is incredibly hard.
“The community I feel is really good at helping young people.”
During the two weeks of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, their baristas operated out of an orange coffee cart parked further up Wimbledon Park Road, catering to the crowds travelling to and from the tennis grounds.
Mo, a barista serving coffee throughout the two weeks, said: “It’s an incredible experience for us as a business.
“It gets our name out there and gets people seeing us a lot more.”
Feature Image Credit: Emily Edge
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