Joe GiddensLincoln Prison is to be the newest location for a teaching restaurant to be staffed by inmates and run by TV presenter Fred Sirieix.
The restaurant, named Bertie’s, will be the first in the country to allow inmates to be joined by their families to share a meal during visiting hours.
It will be the third prison-based teaching restaurant to be run by Mr Sirieix, host of TV’s First Dates.
He said he hoped to teach inmates the “ABC of restauranting”.
Through his charity The Right Course, Mr Sirieix has already opened two similar teaching restaurants in HMP Wormwood in West London and HMP Isis in South London.
He said he planned to open five more by the end of 2023.
Launching his latest venture at HMP Lincoln, a Category B prison, guests were served a three-course meal consisting of smoked salmon and cream cheese for starters, a lasagne for mains and sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Joe Giddens/PA WireMr Sirieix told guests: “If you are in prison, something has gone wrong at some point and we have to take responsibility and we have to give opportunities to people.
“We have to teach people how to do the job like a pro. Hard work will always beat talent. Enthusiasm is half the battle.”
He added: “We are going to do everything we can in order to equip them for life on the outside and that means these guys have to be as good as anyone in the world.”
The scheme offers selected inmates the chance to achieve City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in catering and front-of-house qualifications.
One inmate told Mr Sirieix he wanted to open a street food truck when he was released, while another said the scheme had made him more confident and better able to speak to people.
Mr Sirieix said he hoped the scheme would both stop reoffending among inmates as well as help tackle the skills shortage in the UK’s hospitality industry.
According the the Office for National Statistics, there are currently around 132,000 vacancies in the industry.
Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said: “Our work with The Right Course and Fred Sirieix is helping prisoners learn skills from the best in the industry that will help them find work when released.”
