Docking Station Now Open

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Food, drink, games, music and even serviced offices

The ground-breaking new cafe and restaurant opened in Brentford High Street on Friday 11 March thanks to the inspiration and hard work of young people from across Hounslow borough.    The Mayor of Hounslow Councillor Colin Ellar formally opened Docking Station at 5.30pm.

Docking Station, situated on 108 High Street, offers a variety of drinks and food as well as immersive video gaming experiences on the latest games consoles including Xbox Kinect and Sony PlayStation 3.  The first floor of the building offers serviced workspace for small businesses and charities and includes 20 desks and a meeting room.

The recipe of food, drink and videogames was the inspiration of students at Hounslow Manor School, winners of The Social Enterprise High Street Challenge – a national pilot project backed by the LGiD Local Innovation Transition Fund that challenged young people in Hounslow secondary schools to develop a business plan for an empty shop in Brentford High Street in just eight weeks.

The new shop space – fitted out with the help of construction students from West Thames College (WTC) - will be run by nine apprentices who started their training at WTC in December.  They will continue their technical training at Thames Valley University in partnership with Hounslow Apprenticeship Training, part of Hounslow Education Business Partnership.

The Hounslow Education Business Partnership-managed project is also supported by:

• Ballymore, owners of the retail site
• Heathrow Community Fund
• Hounslow Homes
• LGiD Local Innovation Transition Fund
• London Borough of Hounslow
• Octink
• St George and Ardmore Group
• …in addition to a wide range of other local and national organisations