City bar paves career path for students with special needs

The Bottle Shop Bar and Kitchen works with Gateshead College to gve students training in hospitality!

A Newcastle bar is giving young people with learning difficulties the opportunity to gain valuable industry training.

The Bottle Shop Bar and Kitchen at Waterloo Square in the city centre is giving four students from Gateshead College the chance to gain hands-on experience in the hospitality trade.

The students, who all have learning difficulties, will train in the kitchen and food preparation areas to give them new skills and learn more about the hospitality industry.

The Bottle Shop Bar and Kitchen is owned by St Camillus Leisure Ltd, an arm of St Camillus Care Group which operates The Vault, a unique hotel in Gateshead which will offer respite stays when it opens fully this summer, as well as offer industry experience for youngsters with autism and learning difficulties.

Now Managing Director John Heron has extended this training into the leisure side of operations, and believes it will give more young people the chance to get a foot on the career ladder.

“When I took over the operations at The Bottle Shop we didn’t necessarily plan to go down this route, but we soon realised that this would be a fantastic extension of what we were already doing at The Vault,” he said.

“Our students won’t be working behind the bar, but will be based in the kitchen, working on food preparation and building their catering skills. It’s all about giving young people the chance to learn more and increase their employability by arming them with the skills needed for the world of work.”

For more information on The Vault or St Camillus Care Group visit: http://www.stcamilluscaregroup.co.uk/