Our Story

"We have been running our employability project and community run handmade craft shop for many years. We are delighted that through this project we have been able to support young people with perceived barriers to employment, creative artisans and volunteers."

Fayre & Square Wimbledon is a local employability project and community run handmade craft shop. Since 2013, we have been offering flexible training placements to individuals with perceived barriers to employment. These include physical or learning difficulties, mental health challenges and language or confidence issues.
Fayre & Square Wimbledon was initially set up by Volunteer Centre Merton in 2013 - with the aim of helping local young people (16 to 25 years old) with learning difficulties to gain work experience in order for them to increase their chances of gaining paid employment. 
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With the support of Centre Court Shopping Centre, they set up a shop showcasing local artisans, who paid rent and a commission to help cover running costs. The shop was open a few days a week as a venue for retail training.
 
Over the years, the project expanded its remit to help anyone of any age with barriers to employment because work experience and increased confidence is always valuable, whatever your circumstances.  

Trainees have been referred to us from local colleges, the Job Centre and disability support organisations including Merton Employment Team and Choice Support. The aim is for trainees to go on to gain paid work, further training, or volunteering.

In 2019, due to lack of funding, Fayre & Square was threatened with closure. However, there was a waiting list of trainees and it was obvious that this was a much needed project. So, a group of volunteers and the artisan team decided to try to continue independently and formed the Fayre & Square Wimbledon Community Interest Company. 

Sadly, due to the redevelopment of the Centre Court Shopping Centre site, we are currently homeless but organise pop up markets and hope to collaborate with other charities and organisations to continue our employability training.

Success Stories

Perhaps the best way to understand our project is via our success stories (details have been anonymised).
D was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and had dropped out of education. With no work experience and not much experience with socialising, D was very nervous when we first met - even though they were accompanied by a support worker and parent. We quickly realised D had strong administrative and IT skills and was able to use the till independently and quickly progressed to cashing up at the end of the day. As D's confidence grew, they chatted to us about planning trips and activities with family and friends. By the end of the training D was attending job interviews independently and went on to secure employment supporting people with disabilities with travel training. 

N uses microphones connected to a hearing aid and is able to lip read to some extent.  As a child with a disability, N's parents had decided to protect N and home school. This meant that N had very little experience dealing with people outside the family. However N accepted the challenge of various new tasks and quickly started to smile and interact with everyone, including customers. N went on to attend job fairs without our support and sent us a very touching thank you letter explaining how the experience at Fayre & Square changed everything. 

P came to us after a negative experience in the catering industry. P had anger management issues but understood that the environment had been inappropriate for someone with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. P responded well to clear concise instructions for operating the till and demonstrated excellent customer service skills. By the end of training P was able to induct new trainees, and even gave a presentation on behalf of Fayre & Square at a business breakfast event organised by one of our corporate supporters. Shortly after this P secured a work placement with a major retailer. ​​

​Meet Our Artisans