Living Sobar: Friar Lane's Café Sobar talk redefining recovery

​​“The black dog that you carry around with you – which is current or historical substance abuse – isn’t an issue here,” says Char Ogley. “I remember one person coming in with family and saying, ‘Gosh, I didn’t see my children for years because I was in a dark place. It’s so nice to come in here and do what so many take for granted: an ordinary Sunday afternoon with family.’”

Since August 2024 Char has managed community growth and engagement at Café Sobar: an entirely alcohol-free café-bar on Friar Lane, founded by addiction-recovery charity Double Impact. 

The venue, now ten years old, has always sought to provide a welcoming and productive environment for people in recovery, whether it’s offering employment and volunteering opportunities or facilitating meetings like twelve-step-recovery programs. 

The space is one of a small group of entirely sober bars across the UK, many of which are fighting a losing financial battle. As The Guardian reported last August, despite the advent of a “sober curious generation”, overheads and other costs have led many such spaces, from Manchester to Brighton, to shut shop.

“We’re certainly not the first people to have the idea, but it’s not often put into practice because, commercially, it makes no sense,” says Char.

“Why would you start a venue, particularly when hospitality is having such a hard time, that doesn’t serve alcohol? You need enterprises like ours that have that commercial aspect, but it’s not our driver. We’ve got the charity’s support if it gets tough.”

As a venue looked after by a charity but still a solid spot for coffee and culture in its own right, the dual nature of Café Sobar, Char tells me, is what sets it apart, often saving it from the adversity that venues in one camp or the other might face.

Pete Grimes, assistant manager, barista and chef at the venue, tells me that this quality was what drew him to Sobar back in 2019. He was then an individual recovering from addiction who’d just left a role at the Uni of Nottingham. Attending twelve-step-recovery meetings upstairs, Pete found community and an invaluable sense of interpersonal connection at the café.

“The café was a great place to go and support that fellowship before and after the meetings. That’s why I think that Sobar is so important, because you go to those meetings elsewhere and they don’t have a social enterprise café downstairs, and that’s what I think is so special about Sobar. It serves such a great role in helping people like that.”

Accredited Government statistics say that the number of UK adults in treatment for alcohol increased from 49,958 in 2005 to 122,030 in 2022. Depending on how you look at it, this indicates that more people are entering recovery, but also that more might have repressed their issue over the years. 

For Char, this is a problem that Double Impact and Café Sobar seek to overcome: stigma, and the belief of people suffering from addiction that they shouldn’t seek help. Whether they’re in high profile jobs or undergoing financial trouble, or homelessness many, Char says, struggle to access support.

“It can be because their primary engagement with services so far has been relatively unsympathetic, from police, or because alcoholism is still a dirty word,” says Char, adding, “we could look at adverts around alcohol companies, whose slogans are ‘drink responsibly’ which puts the blame on the drinker.”

And should this be tackled? A big part of the resolution for Café Sobar is receiving referrals from organisations around Nottingham dealing with vulnerable people (like the NHS and Framework: our city’s leading homelessness charity). 

The next step is ensuring that Sobar is a buzzing and positive cultural spot in Nottingham. This atmosphere is, of course, provided by many events, from the musical Sobar Socials (the next of which is in February), to participation in the Nottingham Light Night (also in February) to open mic and comedy nights celebrating the creative achievements of people who have gone through recovery.

The vital part of it however, says Char, is the venue’s enduring ‘peer recovery program’. Most staff at Sobar have undergone recovery themselves, which couldn’t be more important to the Double Impact’s mission: setting up spaces where mutual support is central. 

“We have a voluntary program which is open to everybody, but designed to help those people back into work or take their first steps when they go through life changing events like addiction,” she says. “The way that works is that the more established staff members will be there to mentor staff in their job but also provide that emotional support and recovery support, and help guide them.”

And is the strategy working? According to Pete, who experienced the process first-hand, it couldn’t be working better. Day-by-day, he sees people referred to the venue: people undergoing the same difficulties he did who soon regain the confidence to tackle life head on.

“I know what it’s like to be out of work, feeling at a loose end, not sure what you’re going to do, and having your recovery to think about. Sobar ticked all those boxes for me,” says Pete. 

“I think it's a very important place and I want to see it thrive, because it plays an important part in so many people’s lives and it has in mine. Seeing people come in, understand the journey they’re on, get a bit of confidence and have the light come on behind their eyes: that’s really special.”

Find Café Sobar at 22 Friar Ln, Nottingham, NG1 6DQ. For more information on Sobar Socials, which happen on the last Friday of every month, visit their webpage at doubleimpact.org.uk/cafe-sobar