A RESTAURANT run by inmates at a UK prison has been voted one of Britain’s top
10 fine dining venues.
The Clink Restaurant, which is staffed by prisoners from Cardiff and Prescoed
jails, beat establishments run by celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and
Jamie Oliver to nab 10th place on the list.
Other restaurants in the top 10 included Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux
Quat’Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire.
Customers said the “friendly and informative” staff, who are paid £14 for a
40-hour-week, put other waiters to shame.
The 96-seat restaurant, which opened to the public in 2012, has been credited
with helping to slash reoffending rates.
Latest figures show it has reduced the rate of the released prisoners who
worked there to 12.5 per cent.
TripAdvisor spokesman James Kay said: “Given how competitive the UK restaurant
industry is, the fact that The Clink Restaurant is the only winning Welsh
restaurant demonstrates the incredibly high standard of food and service the
team consistently delivers to customers.”
The restaurant was also named top spot in Cardiff out of 946 other restaurants
in the city.
The Clink Cardiff is one of four restaurants run by prisoners across the UK
through The Clink Charity.
The charity also has restaurants at HMPs Brixton, High Down and Styal and aims
to reduce reoffending through projects that train and give practical skills
to inmates.
Chris Moore, chief executive of The Clink Charity, said: “The whole team is
delighted to have made it into the top 10 restaurants in the UK by
TripAdvisor users, and to be ranked so highly against almost 1,000
restaurants in the city of Cardiff is a huge achievement for us.”