An innovative new restaurant has opened at Her Majesty's Prison High Down in Sutton, Surrey.

The Clink - Britain's first commercial in-prison restaurant - opened on 11 May to provide former inmates with a practical opportunity to attain catering qualifications within a commercial restaurant environment, while simultaneously offering staff, visitors and customers a unique dining experience.

Customers enter The Clink via the prison gates, before passing through security checks and a yard to the barred restaurant entrance. The 420sq ft (39sq m) dining room designed by Ishoka features furniture crafted and glasswork inscribed by the prisoners.

Locally sourced food, including vegetables grown in the prison garden, can be ordered by up to 80 customers seated at eight tables, cooked by nine trainee chefs and served by 10 inmates.

H.M.P. High Down's governor, Peter Dawson, said: "Every time a chef or waiter at The Clink serves a meal, they play their part in dispelling the prejudice and ignorance that gets in the way of successful resettlement."

The concept was inspired by the prison's catering services manager, Chef Alberto Crisci, a former winner of the Butler Trust and BBC Radio Four's Food & Farming Awards and a former chef at Mirabelle Restaurant and The Regent Crest Hotel in London.

The prison restaurant scheme allows Crisci to provide on-site City & Guilds NVQ training and future work placements for ex-offenders. Two of the prison's former inmates are employed at the restaurant as Maitre D' and Head Chef, funded by private donations.

Crisci explained: "The Clink can, and will, change the public's perception of prisoners. I want The Clink to be the sound of chains being broken for men who want, and have worked hard to deserve, a second chance at life."

The £550,000 restaurant was completed in March 2008 as part of an extensive rebuilding programme at the prison, with additional funding secured from The McGrath Charitable Trust, The Wates Family Enterprise Trust, Keir Construction, The Bromley Trust, The Rank Foundation, The Westminster Foundation and Lady Edwina Grosvenor.

Kevin McGrath of The McGrath Charitable Trust said: "The Clink offers a real solution to challenges faced by ex-offenders - toward accommodation, work, money, family and a viable future."