Pub chain opens mock boozers at two jails to get convicts pulling pints and cooking roasts

On Dec 28, 2024

EXCLUSIVE: Greene King pubs have put training pubs inside two UK jails under a scheme that helps cons increase their employability on the outside and decrease the likelihood of reoffending

19:08, 28 Dec 2024

Greene King has opened up pubs inside two UK jails(Image: Marc Walker)

A pub chain has opened mock-ups of its inns at two jails to get convicts pulling pints and cooking roasts instead of pulling off crimes.

Greene King launched the training facilities, which include bar areas and working kitchens, at HMP Onley, Northants, and Scotland’s oldest working prison in Perth. The Releasing Potential project helps jailbirds find jobs in the firm’s more than 2,700 hostelries instead of returning to offending.

Minister for prisons Lord Timpson, who employs ex-cons at his chain of cobblers and backs the scheme, said: “Releasing Potential is the perfect name – many people who leave prison have the potential to become great colleagues.

The mock pubs are strictly booze-free(Image: Marc Walker)

“They can be hard-working, reliable and committed to doing a great job.”

The Greene King IPA brewer has recruited 275 prison leavers to work in its pubs since 2019. It works with 65 nicks across the UK and has committed to hiring 400 former criminals by the end of 2025. The Suffolk firm already has hospitality learning centres at HMP Thameside in south-east London and HMP Grampian in Peterhead, Scotland.

Its prison kitchens allow up to 60 lags per year to develop new skills in the pub trade and each site emulates a real Greene King boozer – although alcohol is strictly forbidden.

Yet they still get cons pulling pints and preparing meals(Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Nick Mackenzie, CEO at Greene King, said: “The opening of our two new training kitchens in HMP Onley and HMP Perth is a really important part of our continued commitment to offering opportunities to everybody, regardless of their background.

“The new kitchens are a vital next step in our Releasing Potential programme that is helping to provide prison leavers with the employment and skills they need to build long-term careers in hospitality and successfully rehabilitate.”

Former prisoner Terry, now a kitchen team leader after taking part in the scheme, said: “While I was in custody, I was very uncertain as to what the future may hold.

The scheme is designed to give cons a helping hand, job-wise, on the outside(Image: Greene King)

“I heard about Greene King and opportunities for prison leavers from a member of the kitchen team.”

He added: “I needed to commit to something in relation to work and I’ve always enjoyed cooking, so I decided to take part in the programme.

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“I’d never held down a job for longer than three months before so was very nervous about the role, but now I’ve been here for more than five years.”

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