This treasured south London non-profit café has just closed for good

There are plenty of great little places kicking about on Brixton Road, and for a while, Café Van Gogh was one of them. Known for serving tasty vegan food from breakfast through dinner, sweet treats and cheeky 2-4-1 margaritas on Thursday nights, this place was at the heart of the community. However, the café has sadly just closed it’s doors. 

And the saddest part is that it wasn’t just a great place to go for a bite to eat or a cocktail. Café Van Gogh was a fully-fledged social enterprise which worked hard to transform the lives of 60 adults and young people with learning disabilities by training them in hospitality roles.

In 2020, only seven percent of south London adults with a learning disability were employed, according to Mencap. The cafe’s hard work meant that learning-disabled adults and young people gained some independence through it’s training programme and the mentorship of job coaches.

While Café Van Gogh was seeking charitable status at the time of closing, the team has just shared an Instagram post detailing that the decision to shut permanently. The reason? It can no longer afford to run. The post cites rising costs due to Brexit and the pandemic; high energy prices and the effects of home working on the lunchtime economy as contributing factors.

The post reads: ‘We’ve been compelled to take the incredibly tough decision to close Café Van Gogh, after nine years of trading as a unique vegan social enterprise, which always placed kindness and ethics at the heart of its business model.’

As well as serving tasty brunches at affordable prices, the restaurant embodied community spirit through its socially-minded Pay It Forward scheme, where customers could pay £2.50 to provide a free hot drink for someone else in need. The beneficiaries could then be anyone from ambulance drivers to homeless people, stressed-out toddler parents or members of the various support groups who chose Café Van Gogh as their venue.

Following the announcement, the cafe’s Instagram page was flooded with hundreds of supportive comments offering condolences, gratitude and fond memories of visits to the community hub. It sounds like south London has lost a really gem of a venue. 

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