Cafe That Supports Community Youth Projects Vandalised

Published on: 5 Sep, 2022
Updated on: 8 Sep, 2022

The ramp at the front of the Hideaway Cafe with the missing section of railings taped off.

A cafe in Allen House Grounds behind Chertsey Street has been the victim of an unusual form of vandalism but Surrey Police say with no CCTV evidence they are unable to pursue the case.

Map showing the location of the Hideaway Cafe – Apple Maps

The incident at the Hideaway Cafe is thought to have occurred in daylight at 6pm on Thursday, September 1.

These bits of the missing section were found strewn on the ground by the operations manager

The building was empty, but alerted by an alarm, the operations manager went to investigate and found one complete section of the railings, made of strong plastic, had been smashed and left strewn on the ground. The incident was reported to the police straight away.

As well as being a hidden retreat, The Hideaway is a social enterprise cafe and home for many Matrix Trust, a local youth charity, projects, including Boost, which supports young people into work, and The Youth Hideaway, an after-school “drop-in” for young people.

Having only completed the redevelopment of the old bowling pavilion in April 2021, with funds raised from a variety of sources, Matrix transformed it into a base for their popular community youth work projects and launched the cafe as a space for the public to retreat to with all profits supporting Matrix’s work across the borough.

CEO, Misty Bower said: “We have no theory as to the motivation, and are really disappointed that a community space like this would be a target for such vandalism”.

A team member at work at the Hideaway Cafe

The team at Matrix is now looking to see how the £500 railing repair on the ramp, used by many wheelchair users, can be completed quickly and is looking into CCTV to help prevent further incidents.

If anyone would like to find out more about Matrix projects, please see: www.matrixtrust.com or get in touch at: info@matrixtrust.com.