Talbot House Café

Every Tuesday morning students from St Philip’s School head over the St Nicholas Church in Thames Ditton to run the popular Talbot House Café at the Community Hub there. They take it in turns to serve customers, prepare the cakes and make excellent coffee. Some of the students can make coffee to barista standard complete with latte art!

Our students love their Tuesday mornings spent in the heart of the community. Other groups using the hall at the same time include the Elmbridge Foodbank, Citizen’s Advice Group and a Crafting Group. Students enjoy chatting to other visitors and particularly enjoy having a look at the Good as New Clothing Rail. They even enjoyed a visit from local fire fighters who were handing out leaflets encouraging the community to get smoke alarms fitted and test them regularly.

The Talbot House café provides students in Years 10 and 11 with valuable work experience throughout the year. Mr Mears set up the venture with the church and it has been running successfully for over three years. It is named after Talbot House a Christian refuge set up in Belgium during the First World War to offer peace, love and warmth to soldiers.

This year, students have also started opening the café on a Friday morning for parents attending baby and toddler music sessions in the hall.

If you would like to drop in and sample the excellent coffee, you can find our students there every Tuesday during term time from 9.30-11.30am. The address is St Nicholas Church Hall, Summer Road, Thames Ditton KT7 0QQ.