Xiaohongshu
Two and a half hours, three social enterprises, and one very good iced matcha
By Paige Bains, 3rd year Arts and Sciences BASc
There's something about being a student in London that can make the city feel simultaneously massive, but also weirdly small. You get stuck walking the same routes - campus to the library, the library to the tube, Phineas to Scala (we've all done this one too many times) - and before you know it one of the most interesting and historic cities in the world starts to become... boring. That's part of why Social Enterprise's walking tour has quickly become one of my favourite things I've done recently.
The tour runs in partnership with Unseen Tours - an award-winning social enterprise that trains people with lived experience of homelessness to become tour guides. We took a 2.5 hour journey from Gordon Square through the hidden corners of Bloomsbury and Covent Garden, before finishing up at Seven Dials Market. Along the way, the tour stops at multiple local social enterprises — from the Friends House just near campus to Redemption Roasters to Seven Dials Market in Covent Garden — where you get to meet the people behind the scenes and actually ask them questions.
What stuck with me most was visiting Redemption Roasters, a coffee company that trains people in prison to work in their roastery, supporting their transition back into society. In 2026, they had a 0% reoffending rate among the people they've worked with, which is testament to the incredible work they've been doing. Hearing directly from the people at the enterprises we visited made everything feel real in a way that a definition on a slide never really does.
As a final year Arts and Sciences student (Cultures major, Health & Environment minor) and the team's resident Student Content Creator, the tour gave me a much sharper understanding of what social enterprise actually means in practice — and I found it to be a really special opportunity to stand in front of the people building these ventures and understand what goes into it.
There's also a free drink at Redemption Roasters mid-tour. I recommend the iced matcha for when the sun (hopefully) starts to come out. Plus, if that's not enough, you'll get a £10 voucher to spend at Seven Dials Market at the end.
Something I've been thinking about since is that our spending choices matter more than we might realise. Choosing to buy from a social enterprise isn't just a lifestyle choice — it's directly funding a mission. Being able to see the social enterprises in operation really made this concept land for me.
The Social Enterprise programme has already run three tours this year and have a fourth coming up soon. If you're into social entrepreneurship, want to meet other students who care about similar things, or just want to see the city through fresh eyes — I can vouch that it's worth your afternoon.
The next tours are on Tuesday 24th March and Wednesday 15th April. Spaces are limited, so sign up before they're gone
