If you are looking for the best free self-guided tour of East London, this is my recommended route. I recently worked with the British Council to guide a group mostly Hong Kong citizens around some of the best social enterprises in London.
A great group of NGO workers, academics, and social entrepreneurs. Get in touch via the comments if you’d like to take this tour with me.
FoodCycle
Bromley By Bow FoodCycle is a charitable social enterprise that combines volunteers, surplus food and spare kitchen spaces to create tasty, nutritious meals for people at risk of food poverty and social isolation.
We stopped for a talk from Helena Chouchani to learn more about their growing number of FoodCycle Hubs across the UK, and franchising plans for expansion. Of course, we stayed for a yummy lunch too!
Bikeworks
Bethnal Green Bikeworks runs a variety of community cycling programmes including employability for disadvantaged groups, all ability cycling, bicycle reuse and recycling, school cycle training and more. As a business it provides cycling services to consumers and organisations – so buy your next bike from here!
We were lucky to have a private tour from co-founder Jim Blakemore. He talked about the entrepreneurial journey, and how their social outcomes can continue to grow as the business grows.
Hackney Pirates
Dalston Hackney Pirates is an enterprising and fun charity that works to develop the literacy, confidence and perseverance of young people in Hackney so that they can achieve both in school and in the world beyond. And did I mention, their shop is an actual pirate ship?
Anthony Mensah gave us an enthusiastic tour of the ship, including secret passageways, ideas rooms and the huge world under the sea. We loved seeing the work of the children displayed for sale in the shop, and all left feeling inspired to read more too!
FARM:shop
Dalston FARM: shop is an urban farming hub, featuring urban agriculture experiments and a fresh food café. It’s also home to London’s first and largest aquaponics system. Follow the connections from fish tanks to lettuce rows. At the back, there is a hydroponic allotment and a chicken coop!
We were surprised to find out that the system, once up and running, is quite easy to keep running. The farm, the animals, the plants and the café can all be run by a single person. That person is Andy Rasbery, and we were very happy that he could also spend time with us explaining the history of the shop and how all the systems work. Stop by for a sandwich sometime. You won’t find fresher food in the city!
Reblogged this on love, life, loaves and fishes and commented:
Love seeing this kind of thing – folk getting out of their armchairs and changing perceptions and stereotypes. An inspiring read 🙂
Really happy that you like it, and thanks for re-blogging. The more people that learn about, and use social enterprise, the better!