Early on a sunny Friday morning in Norwich, customers headed as usual to Café Britannia, a café run by prisoners and ex-offenders on the grand redbrick premises of HMP Norwich. But there wasn’t even any milk left for a cup of tea.
After wrangling with the social enterprise running the café, the Ministry of Justice had ordered its closure. Norwich residents heard the news on Thursday, and the café affectionately nicknamed by some as “The Prison” ceased trading the following day.
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
