The first in a chain of café shops designed to offer paid employment to homeless and socially excluded individuals has opened in London.

Café Arlington has been launched by the Novas Group, which helps ex-offenders, the homeless and those experiencing alcohol and/or drug issues to reconnect with society. Fifty per cent of the staff at the new café will be people using Novas’ services.

Profits made from the cafés – which will offer organic and fair-trade products – will be reinvested into Novas’ schemes to increase access to education, work and training initiatives for the 15,000 people it works with per year.

Novas chief executive, Maria Donoghue-Mills, said: “Café Arlington will enable people to gain new skills and personal confidence and offer positive pathways out of homelessness and exclusion.”

Further new café openings are planned for Blackfriars, London Bridge and Liverpool over the next six months. Details: www.novas.org