Northampton cafe celebrates four years of helping around 100 people with autism into employment

Cafe Track, in Northampton town centre, is celebrating its four year anniversary (April 14) - during which, it has helped nearly 100 people with autism into employment.

The cafe, situated in Market Square, was opened by Tom Cliffe in 2019 after he left his teaching career to embark on a mission of supporting autistic adults to access employment.

On celebrating the business’ fourth anniversary, Tom said: “We have celebrated with coffee and cake with the regulars so it’s been a nice atmosphere with people coming in. The weather has not been perfect but the company has been.”

Employee - Alfie Kelly, aged 24 - started out as a volunteer at Cafe Track three years ago shortly after he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

With no experience in any working environment and no idea what he wanted to do with his life, he was pointed in the direction of Cafe Track who said they could help him.

He told Chronicle & Echo how the business changed his life.

Alfie said: “I have literally just gone from struggling to do two days on the trot - my experience with autism is I can chat to people and it is very easy, but I am knackered after all that - I went from that, only doing washing up once or twice a week to now, where I am part-time washing, cooking, making coffee, whatever is needed.

“It has been a massive transformation and I don’t think I realised that.”

Alfie said it was easy to compare himself to others at school and, when contemplating his future, thought about going to university because he thought he had to. Now, he is taking life at his own pace.

Last month, he asked Tom for a part-time job. Tom said that he had been waiting for Alfie to ask.

Alfie said: “It was the fact they waited for me, there was no pressure on me whatsoever and there was that opportunity.”

Now, Alfie works part-time at Cafe Track as he focuses on re-starting his driving lessons and his interest in writing about football.

Cafe Track has helped dozens of people like Alfie over the four years they have been running in the heart of Northampton and that is what they celebrate today.

The business’ journey has not been without its challenges. Having opened in 2019, the cafe had 14 months to build momentum before the pandemic hit and forced Cafe Track to close for the good part of two years.

Now, the business continues to deal with the after-effects of Covid-19, the cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing work with the Market Square regeneration.

Tom said: “Hopefully, we will try our best to work through this. We rely on the support of those in Northampton, who have been fantastic to keep us going.”

He credits the success of Cafe Track to his hard-working team including Alfie, Sue and the cafe manager Sharon.

“Someone said earlier, ‘it is always nice to leave with a smile on your face.’ If we can be a nice distraction for that half an hour a day, I guess we are doing something right,” Tom added.

Cafe Track invited people to help them celebrate with a game of ‘Stand-Up Bingo’ on Facebook at 6pm on Friday April 14. Tickets can be purchased online at their virtual coffee shop.

For more information about Cafe Track, visit https://www.track.org.uk/cafe