Open daily · everyone welcome

There is food at midday. You don't have to be anything.

The kitchen serves whoever walks in — every day, free, and nobody will ask your name or your religion. Everything else here is arranged around that: the daily programme, the festivals, and a hall anybody can hire.

The kitchen Hiring the hall

Coming up

Sat, Aug 22 · 5:27 AM
Community day — kitchen open all day
📍 The main hall
Anybody, any time between ten and six. There's no need to say you're coming.
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Sat, Sep 5 · 5:27 AM
Evening programme and shared meal
📍 The main hall
Music from seven and food from eight. Children welcome, and welcome to be noisy.
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Sun, Oct 4 · 5:27 AM
Annual festival — three days
📍 The whole building
The busiest days of the year by a distance. Park at the school if you possibly can.
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Mon, Oct 26 · 4:27 AM
Open evening for anyone curious
📍 The main hall
A walk round, an explanation, and questions. Nobody is asked to join anything at the end.
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Festival dates follow the calendar rather than the month, so they move every year. Replace these with your own and set your own timezone before publishing.

Everyone eats. Nobody pays.

Every day, at midday — And again in the evening, on the days the hall is open
You don't have to be anything — Any religion, or none. Nobody will ask, and nobody would mind either way
You don't have to attend anything — Come only for the food. That is an entirely normal thing to do here
Nobody will ask your name — Or take your details, or add you to a list, or follow anything up
Sit anywhere — On the floor or at a table. Somebody will show you where the plates live
If you'd like to help — Wash up. That is the whole of the application process

People arrive here between jobs, between houses and sometimes between everything. The kitchen was built for exactly that, and using it costs you nothing at all — including your privacy.

Give to the kitchen

A day here

Morning — Doors open at six. Quiet until about eight
Late morning — Cleaning and cooking. Sit through it, or pick up a knife
Midday — Food, and the busiest hour of the day by some way
Afternoon — Quiet again — the best time to come if crowds are difficult
Evening — Music and the evening programme, most days of the week
Closing — Around nine, and nobody is hurried out of the door

If crowds or noise are hard for you, come mid-afternoon. Somebody will be here and it will be quiet, and that is a perfectly good reason to visit a building like this.

Hiring the hall

What it costs — $180 a day, $95 a half day — and nothing at all for a funeral
What's included — Tables, chairs, the kitchen, and somebody who knows how the boiler works
What we ask — No alcohol, no meat cooked on site, and the building left as you found it
What it can't be used for — Anything party-political, and anything selling to the people in the room
Who can hire it — Anybody at all. You don't need ever to have set foot in here
Booking — A conversation first, then a form. We'll say honestly if the date is already busy

The hall pays for a good part of the kitchen, which is why it is on this page at a plain price rather than quoted case by case.

Give to the kitchen

Rice, oil, gas and the people who cook it. Any amount, once or whenever you're able — it is the least ceremonial thing on this page.

Tipping is disabled in the editor preview.

Nobody eating here will ever know whether you gave, and nobody giving here is ever seated differently.

★★★★★

“I ate here every day for about three weeks when things were bad. Not once did anybody ask me a single question about it.”

Anonymous

By request

★★★★★

“We hired the hall for my mother's memorial and they wouldn't take the money. I didn't know that was on the list until afterwards.”

Devi R.

Hall hire

Where we are

The temple

17 Garland Street, Kingsgate

Monday: 06:00 – 21:00
Tuesday: 06:00 – 21:00
Wednesday: 06:00 – 21:00
Thursday: 06:00 – 21:00
Friday: 06:00 – 21:00
Saturday: 06:00 – 21:00
Sunday: 06:00 – 21:00

Call Get directions Save contact

Step-free entry is round the side and the lift reaches both floors. Ring ahead if you'd like somebody to meet you at the door — that is a normal request here rather than a favour.

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