Croydon café uses the power of community to stand up for customers

The eclectic road linking Norwood Junction to the west and the country park to the east is full of lively independent eateries and shops that cater to all needs.

However, one of the area’s most unique dining experiences lies slightly off the high street, through an unassuming corridor at number 44b.

Follow the sandwich board sign down through the corridor and you will immediately be hit by the sound of infectious laughter and the kind of warm greeting you would expect from an old friend.

This is the South Norwood Community Kitchen (SNCK), a pay-what-you-can café run by volunteers for the people of South Norwood.

From Monday to Saturday, it provides lunch and food bank services.

The project began in 2016 before moving into its current site at the Croydon Council-owned Socco Cheta Community Hub in the summer of 2022.

Since then, the SNCK has truly made the space its own with art on the walls, music playing through speakers and the constant hum of chatter between the volunteers and patrons.

Emma Gardiner is the project lead for the SNCK.

During a lunchtime visit to the café this week, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) how the emphasis of the kitchen has always been on using the community as a way to fight social issues in the area.

According to Emma, that community starts with having a strict open-door policy at the café. She said: “We make it as easy as possible to come here because that’s how communities work, I mean you don’t have to fill in a form to do your next-door neighbour’s shopping.

“We’re very much of the belief that everyone needs to participate to make it work, we’re not here to serve clients, we’re here to look after each other.

“A lot of people came along to be a part of the community but ended up becoming volunteers.

"The reason why it’s such a diverse group – because we don’t have loads of processes to get involved. You don’t have to fill in a form or go to an interview, we only do DBS checks.

“What’s radical about these spaces is that we’re pushing against people’s perceptions of homeless people and migrants.

"You come here and there could be a young couple, who have probably bought a property in the area, sitting next to a guy who is homeless.”

Looking around the café, it is clear that their policy is working in full effect.

People of all ages and backgrounds sit beside each other discussing the events of the day or simply enjoying the hot drinks and food provided by the volunteers.

While quality and food and drink remain the core of SNCK’s work, they are keen to stress their role as a force to be reckoned with when it comes to community campaigns.

These campaigns are guided and led by the very people who come through the café door, and as a result, are focused on the real things that affect people in the area.

One of the SNCK’s first campaigns was focused on improving the condition of social housing in the borough, following the shocking revelations over the decrepit state of flats in Norwood’s Regina Road.

The flats were found to have extensive mould issues, while residents complained of non-existent repair services.

Emma said: “We led the community campaign for Regina Road, and the only reason we got involved in the first place was because we were doing food parcels for the residents and they were telling us that ‘our flats are in a state’.

"This was all before the report came out.

“After the report came out, we spoke to residents who were coming here and they said ‘it’s not just that flat’.

"Then we created the residents’ support group and at that point, the previous Labour council were undermining the residents.”

Since then, the SNCK has become involved in a myriad of other projects where they feel the council is not delivering for residents as it should.

It was instrumental in the recent campaign that saw Croydon’s two maintained nurseries, Crosfield and Selhurst, saved from potential closure by the council.

Now the SNCK’s focus has turned to the use of Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) across Croydon, and the very real effect it is having on the borough’s homeless population.

PSPOs are a local authority-imposed restriction on certain activities in public areas; they are usually aimed at tackling antisocial behaviour in built-up areas.

Croydon currently has two active PSPOs in place in the borough, one in the town centre and the other in Thornton Heath.

However, according to Emma and a number of SNCK volunteers, these orders are being used to police homeless people and ‘keep them out of sight’.

Emma pointed to the recent experiences of residents on the Tamworth Road estate, who live just beyond the boundaries of the Croydon town centre PSPO.

“I was speaking to a member of the Tamworth Road Community Hub who said that they’re getting really vulnerable homeless people sleeping on the estate now because they’ve been moved from the high street because of the PSPO.

“They’re staying in a bin shed in a dark alley, just because they’ve been pushed out of the town centre.

"These are vulnerable people who are being criminalised.”

Some in the SNCK fear that the newer Thornton Heath order will result in the same outcome for homeless people and that they will be displaced rather than being engaged with and given support with addiction and housing.

Croydon Council recently came under fire after an employee threatened court action against one of the borough’s longest-running soup kitchens, Nightwatch, who operate seven days a week.

While the council have since said they will not be pursuing this course of action, some saw it as characteristic of its wider approach towards homeless people in the borough.

Many of the 100-plus volunteers that keep SNCK running have direct lived experience of homelessness and addiction.

While they admit Croydon Council has become more approachable and transparent since the change to a Tory administration in 2022, many feel the approach towards homelessness needs fixing.

‘Council put me in building full of drug addicts when I was recovering’

Hugo Seabra moved from his home country of Angola to the UK in 2000.

Since living in the UK he has experienced ups and downs, including sleeping rough on the streets of Croydon and being involved in the Croydon tram crash of 2016.

He told the LDRS: “Everything was good for the first 15 years, but the past eight years have been tough. I was one of the victims of the tram accident in Croydon.

“After that, I was in a really bad space and became homeless for a period because I didn’t want to be around people.

"The council eventually put me in Palmer House in East Croydon. It’s a paradise for drug addicts, everyone there has an addiction and so did I.

“I told them I hadn’t been taking drugs for three weeks, and where did they put me?

"In a place full of drug addicts.

"You either chose a place to stay but have the temptation of drugs or sleep rough on the sleep and have no access to drugs.

“If I didn’t leave that place soon I would be hooked up with crack cocaine again.

"Eventually, I got out and found a new place.

"I started coming to lunch when SNCK held it at the church on Saturdays. That gave me the foundation.

“I got food and I could take it home even if I was homeless and sleeping in a staircase for three months.

"Having the foundation you need to get out of homelessness is so hard, so many of the people I knew when I was homeless are still out there.”

Emma feels the SNCK demonstrates how the power of community can be used to help homeless people, even when they are struggling to access services through the council.

Alongside their food services, the SNCK offers housing support and advice while Calat offers language courses in rooms next to the café.

Despite this, Emma and the volunteers are realistic.

They acknowledge that the challenges facing people in the borough are numerous and cannot be solved easily.

They emphasise collaboration and have called themselves a ‘critical friend’ to the council.

Emma said: “We try to work with everyday people and work outside of the structures that exist and try stay as independent as we can, all we want from the council is that they do what the community requires from them.”

She added: “We have to be realistic that people with serious issues like addiction and trauma aren’t going to recover overnight.

"Some of them won’t ever recover but that doesn’t mean they’re not members of our community.”

Yaba Henriette has been volunteering at the SNCK for over a year and, whilst she may not admit it herself, is the driving force behind its creative and seasonal menu.

She initially came to access the food bank on the weekend before becoming a dedicated volunteer.

In a recent video SNCK published on their website, Yaba said: “For me, this is a blessed place because it made me recover.

When I was coming here my self-esteem was down, but SNCK was the place that made me come back to life.”

Before leaving the café, we asked Emma why there aren’t more community kitchens like theirs across Croydon.

She responded saying: “There are a lot of empty buildings in Croydon. All you need is permission to use the building and a little bit of money, it doesn’t even cost that much. And you get this.”

A spokesperson for Croydon Council said: “We are committed to addressing the growing challenges of homelessness and rough sleeping through our Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.

"We recognise the importance of collaborating with key organisations in achieving our shared aims.

“We remain dedicated to working closely with South Norwood Community Kitchen to identify and deliver long-term solutions that help residents safely off the street and into stable accommodation.

"This includes working with public health services to ensure those affected by drug and alcohol issues receive the necessary support.

“The council commissions several housing and support services to address rough sleeping in the borough, including Palmer House, which provides accommodation for single residents with a range of complex needs and offers wraparound services to ensure they receive comprehensive support.

“Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) are not aimed at targeting specific people, groups, or properties, but seek to address antisocial behaviour that has been reported within a specific area of Croydon.”