The Hive Cafe is within The New Standard Works in the Jewellery Quarter and is a training bakery and café. The café is a social enterprise that provides valuable work experience and training opportunities to students at Ruskin Mill Trust’s Argent College, who are a charity providing education for 16- to 25-year-olds with complex educational needs, including learning difficulties, autistic spectrum conditions and disabilities.
In 2017, Argent College created a rooftop micro farm, where organic seasonal fruits and vegetables are grown by the students to use in the café. They also have a zero-waste ethos, and all food and green waste is also collected and composted on-site, including within a worm composter, which is then used as soil within the micro farm. The students are involved in the whole process of growing, harvesting, preparing, cooking and serving the food.
In 2020 they won the VisitEngland “Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Award” – huge well done to The Hive!
Find out more via their Instagram account @HiveBham