The Key Café
The Key Café on Gloucester Road is run by The Key, a Bristol charity working to cut reoffending by helping people move from prison into work. Under the line "Food with Conviction", it serves breakfast, coffee and baking, and every purchase funds training and support.
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The Key Café
Coffee with a purpose
The café gives people leaving prison training, confidence and real work experience in a busy kitchen and front of house. Money from food and drink goes back into the charity, which works with HMP prisons and the Ministry of Justice. That makes a visit more than just a coffee stop: the people serving you may be building the experience they need to find work after prison, and the charity board oversees how the income is used.
What to try
Alongside breakfast and coffee you will find the charity's own products: Jail Jars preserves and RISE AND PROVE baked goods, many of them made by people at HMP Bristol. They make good small gifts to take home. The menu runs from breakfast through to lunch, with coffee and baking all day, so it suits a slow start as well as a quick takeaway.
When to call in
It is a weekday and Saturday daytime café, so think breakfast or lunch rather than an evening stop; it does not open on Sundays. Gloucester Road is one of Bristol's longest runs of independent shops, so it pairs well with a morning browsing the street, and Lona Grill House is almost next door if you want to come back for dinner. Prices are kept modest, and it is a relaxed spot to sit with a laptop or meet a friend.
Highlights
- Run by The Key, a rehabilitation charity
- Jail Jars preserves and RISE AND PROVE bakes
- Breakfast and coffee on Gloucester Road
- Profits fund prison-to-work training
Good to know
- Open daytime Monday to Saturday; closed Sundays.
Frequently asked questions
Nearby
Sources: thekeybristol.com