Two National Awards for our Jean's Cafe
Jean's Café has won two national awards this year: Food Waste and Organics Initiative of the Year at the Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management 2026 in May, and Innovation in Delivering Sustainability and Social Value at the MJ Achievement Awards 2026 in June.
Both awards were received by Islington Council, who fund and lead the work with ReLondon, with funding from the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance. Manor Gardens Welfare Trust delivers the café itself.
Jean's Café runs every Friday at the Jean Stokes Community Centre. The pay-what-you-feel café turns surplus food into fresh, low carbon meals, and alongside it we deliver cooking and food-growing workshops that help residents build skills and reduce waste. It was set up to tackle two connected problems in the Caledonian Road ward: high levels of food waste and limited access to affordable, climate-friendly meals.
In six months the café rescued nearly three tonnes of surplus food, served hundreds of plant-based meals, engaged more than 500 residents and generated £162,000 in accredited social value.
We are proud that a hyper-local model, powered by our community, has been recognised nationally for showing how a circular food system can tackle food poverty, climate change and social isolation at the same time.