Pret Mortimer Street

Since 1986, the Soup Kitchen has offered dedicated support to homeless, elderly, lonely and vulnerable people in London. Our mission is to extend a compassionate hand to those in need, offering nutritious meals, everyday essentials and a welcoming sense of belonging to over 200 individuals each morning. In our commitment to holistic well-being, we pioneered Europe’s first on-site mental health drop-in centre within a soup kitchen, recognising and addressing the mental health needs of our guests. With the help of hundreds of dedicated volunteers each year, we aim to provide a safe and warm environment for every individual who walks through our doors. In early 2026, we expect to open our new restaurant in Primrose Hill, which combines the skills and experience of a highly accomplished Executive Chef with a team of recruits who have all experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. Our goal is to upskill our friends by providing them with structured employment, dedicated training and extra support to build long-term careers in the hospitality industry.

The team at Old Diorama Arts Centre are currently compiling our second annual creation festival for artists with experience of homelessness, now renamed One Roof. In January 2023, ODAC welcomed over 200 visitors to the One Festival of Homeless Arts, to enjoy a range of artistic workshops; including wire sculpting, mudlarking, mask making, and more. We received great feedback from attendees of that festival, some calling it ‘a wonderful holiday’ and promising to return for the next one. We’re holding them to that, and hope to see as many repeat visitors as possible, along with - fingers crossed! - plenty of new faces as well. We are programming one jam-packed week of workshops and classes, plus an open studio space for a second week for artists to spend time on their independent work. We’re hoping to expand the range of the workshops available, and to promote sales of any newly created work the artists wish to sell, with all proceeds going directly to them. In addition to enjoying a week or more of outstanding creative company, we are zeroing in on what we can learn during One Roof 2024. The dedicated arts and homelessness team at ODAC are looking forward to discussions with festival attendees regarding sessions that they might like to attend on a regular basis. Our ideal situation would be to establish a year-round programme of diverse art workshops, co-created with One Roof attendees, incorporating dance, wellness, live arts, music and storytelling, alongside the visual art that put the festival on the map. So we're currently trying to gather volunteers, food donations, and anything going that might be useful to a collective of genre-spanning artists with experience of homelessness. We try to provide a hot lunch each day for all attendees, and would love to be able to offer something for breakfast, plus snacks throughout the afternoon. Over 200 people attended our last festival, so it's a high bar to be able to accommodate and provide for everyone.