The charity is now offering speciality brews from its Jubilee Place store in Canary Wharf, which also stocks fashion, gifts, cards, homeware and more
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As a nation, we’re soundly hooked on the black stuff.
According to the British Coffee Association, UK drinkers consume 98million cups a day – nearly one and a half for every person living in the country.
Judging by the number of outlets across Canary Wharf, it’s reasonable to suppose those working, living or visiting the estate, punch a little above average on that figure.
While there are many places to get your fix in the malls, one venue has a significant point of difference.
The coffee from Circle Collective, located at the bottom of the escalators to the western end of the main mall, comes with a secret ingredient – opportunity in every cup.
The London-based charity, founded in 2011 by CEO Turly Humphreys, was set up to support unemployed people aged 16-30 through training and experience working in its shops, with the aim of helping them find jobs.
Having originally opened its Canary Wharf store in 2023, with ongoing support from CWG, the charity has moved a couple of times, but location hasn’t been the only change.
“This is a new model for Circle Collective,” said Turly.
“We’ve moved away from predominantly fashion to more of a mix with gifts, cards and homewares, stocking sustainable local products for people to buy.
“Very excitingly, we’re also now serving coffee and one of the reasons we wanted to do that was because the young people coming on our programmes were telling us they couldn’t afford to buy a cup.
“We wanted to both offer drinks at an affordable price and also expand our programme so our young people could train to become baristas in the hospitality sector.”
more than just a drink
Branded “Coffee With Purpose”, from the consumer’s point of view, Circle’s operation features espresso for £2.50, while a flat white is £3.50.
“There’s also a Coffee And Cookie deal for £5 – a saving of more than £2 – with the sweet treats sourced from Rinkoffs bakery in Whitechapel.
The coffee itself comes from Cameroon via Amero, a company run by Canary Wharf resident and JP Morgan Chase & Co vice president of model risk governance and review, Daniel Kemdeng.
The decaf is by Cruise Coffee – a company founded by Turly and her son George – which imports from Colombia and uses a by-product of the sugar cane industry to remove the caffeine before roasting takes place in small batches at Tate Britain.
Served alongside a menu of fine teas plus hot chocolate from Ghana and Venezuela, it’s a compelling proposition for those seeking warm refreshment.
Presiding over this selection and heading up the operation is cafe manager and trainer Gareth Bell – a self-confessed jack of all trades, with a background that includes selling a photography retail tech startup to Jessops, extensive experience in the coffee sector and work for charities.
building skills and confidence
“At Circle Collective, we run a training programme for six weeks,” he said.
“We work on a few different elements of the hospitality and cafe industry, with soft skills, confidence and mentoring, but also the technical skills of making coffee and the bigger story of the product itself, from farm to cup to customer.
“It’s all about appreciating the work that goes into making a hot beverage.
“One of the things I try to do with trainees is to prepare them to be able to explain it all to customers who want to know more.
“If people who visit us go away with a little more knowledge then it’s mission accomplished.
“If trainees can get to a point where they’re sharing that with customers, that they know what they’re talking about and can communicate it, then that gives them a platform to stand on.
“But we also want them to be themselves, to enjoy what they’re doing – we don’t want this to be a strict, corporate environment.
“What we want to do is build a business for Circle Collective based on people coming in and seeing there’s a purpose behind what we’re doing.
“We have regulars coming in every day, word-of-mouth has been important and it’s a great opportunity for us to share what the charity does.”
from training to experience and employment
The first cohort of trainees has just completed the programme, with a week’s work experience at Hilton London Canary Wharf the final piece in the puzzle.
Turly, who generally orders a decaf latte, said: “What we would like is for more companies to come to us with internships, apprenticeships, work experience placements and jobs.
“One of our challenges is brand awareness and we want people to know that by shopping with us they are helping to give young people opportunities.”
Gareth, whose preference is for an oat flat white, added: “For me, change is a good word to think about – education and awareness are important.
“That’s why I write inspirational quotes on the coffee machine.
“Making the coffee is one thing, but the transferable skills gained from this programme, such as selling to customers, means those participating can go into anything.
“Coffee is a vehicle and you can drive it to go into anything. It’s about trainees seeing the bigger picture.
“There are lots of opportunities – it’s also about identifying what our trainees’ values are.
“For example, I have one at the moment who loves fashion and design, so they are looking after the layout of the products.
“If they finish the programme and they walk our of here more educated than when they arrived then that’s a win for me.”
- From August 12-26, 2026, Wharfers visiting Circle Collective can use the code PURPOSE to get any coffee for £1, limited to one drink per customer, per day.
key details: Circle Collective
Circle Collective serves coffee from its Canary Wharf store in Jubilee Place from 7.30am-2.30pm.
The store is open to shoppers until 7pm on weekdays.
Those interested in applying for the charity’s programmes can find full details online.
Read more: Find out more about Common Threads, coming to Cody Dock in September
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