The Trew Era Café was a non-profit

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

established in March 2015 in Hackney,

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. The café, opened by comedian and activist

Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, podcaster and media personality. He established himself as a stand-up comedian and radio host before becoming a film actor. After beginning his career as a comedian and la ...

, was funded by profits from his 2014 book, ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

''. The café name and logo come from its location on the New Era estate and from Brand's web series,

The Trews The Trews are a Canadian rock music, rock band from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, consisting of vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Theo Mckibbon. The band is currently based in Hamilton, Ontari ...

''. In September 2016, Brand donated the cafe to The Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPT) whose London Recovery Hub is located next door to the Trew Era Cafe.

Background

During promotion for his book, Brand stated that he would use the profits to fund a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

to employ former drug users in "abstinence-based recovery" and help them return to work. The café is located on the New Era estate, whose residents faced eviction in 2014 when their rents were to be tripled by a new owner, Westbrook Partners. They campaigned against the proposed purchase by Westbrook, and Brand supported and drew attention to the residents' cause. In December 2014, Westbrook backed out and the approximately 100 families of the New Era estate ultimately were able to stay.

Facility

In February 2015, work began on the facility, next to a printing shop and a barbershop. The location was formerly a clothes shop but was empty for some time. The café opened its doors on the morning of 26 March 2015, with approximately 200 people coming for the event. Brand stated that he hopes to have a chain of self-supporting social enterprises. On the café opening, he told the crowd, "In this book, I wrote about how the way to change politics is not depending on the existing political class and the existing political system, but for us ourselves to start grassroots movements like what has happened on the New Era estate...this café is going to be run by people in abstinence-based recovery. It's a model which is not for profit, a fully self-supporting new economic enterprise." As of July 2015, the cafe employed seven recovering addicts, who are paid £9.15 per hour, and a manager.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trew Era Cafe Coffeehouses and cafés in London 2015 establishments in England Social enterprises Russell Brand