In the crypt of a striking Gothic Church in Marylebone, is a catering secret – a twice-weekly cafe for the homeless which has run for the past decade. It can host more than 80 diners in an evening; there are table cloths; cutlery; waiters and waitresses, and a baby grand piano plays in the corner. Those coming in to eat are quite deliberately referred to as “guests”.
The Companions Café, at St James’s Catholic Church in Spanish Place, opens its doors at 6pm but a long queue outside has already formed on the street outside by 3.30pm. As they head down the steps, homeless visitors became guests, and for the next two hours are waited on and referred to by their first name.
People from all ages and backgrounds mix and sit together. One man arrives wearing a city gentleman’s black tail coat and bowler hat.
Companions Café London coordinator Kate MacKenzie, a former matron at a London hospital, gives the pre-service pep talk to volunteers just like the manager of any restaurant. More than 30 volunteers will make this night run – from kitchen staff, to those on the door, to the volunteers who amass and stock donations of clothes like coats, thermal long johns and toiletries.
Kate then sits at a baby grand piano and plays selections from Debussy to Abba and the Sinatra anthem My Way as around 80 diners tuck into Polish potato and beef stew (donated by a Polish café) with vegan sausage as a vegetarian option. Peaches and cream follow and endless refills of tea and coffee ferried to the tables in mugs branded with the Maltese cross.
Kate explains the philosophy is a distinct one – homeless people here are guests, and as important as the food and free clothes and toiletries, is the companionship – it is a chance to regain dignity, sit with friends, listen to music while you eat, and read a book from the mobile library on a trolley. Nobody is rushed out when they have finished.
Kate says: “Of course the food is important, but the Companions Café is about so much more – it is about sociability and people being together, especially after lockdown when they literally lost their voice from no social interaction.
“Our approach is the people who come in here are our guests – they sit at tables with tablecloths, proper cutlery and glasses and are waited on. We know them on first name terms. They sit with their friends and for the two hours with us they can talk, listen to music and catch up with friends.
“The majority of people who come here are homeless, many are in difficult circumstances like small or cramped rooms with leaks and no cooking or washing facilities. We point people to other services like Connections St Martin or The Passage, or the NHS – I see our job as providing dignity and companionship over dinner.”
Supporters of the Order of Malta, which run the café, pay a monthly subscription to support this kind of work across London. Kate MacKenzie says there are around 300 “Companions” volunteers who work across the capital.
The Lord Mayor of Westminster, Cllr Robert Rigby, who recently visited and helped out said: “We know that across Westminster there are amazing groups of volunteers helping our communities, and the Companions Café is a great example of that – giving dinner, dignity, and the chance to be treated as guests to a group of people who live in incredibly hard circumstances.
“It is amazing to think that for the past decade this restaurant underneath a Westminster church has been running a unique restaurant for people who desperately need the help. Well done to the Order of Malta and its Westminster volunteers for an inspirational project.”
Thanks to Westminster City Council for images and words.
