Making a difference at Paddington Central

Volunteer, mentor, donate and celebrate at Paddington Central.

The aim is to create greener spaces, thriving places and responsible choices for our customers and visitors.

Paddington Central is at the heart of one of London’s most uplifting communities thanks to our links with the local people, charities, social initiatives and projects that work together to create a place that helps to inspire and make a difference for everyone.

From seasonal celebrations including Pride and International Women’s Day to year-round support for local charities including PiP and The Mosaic Community Trust, it’s these connections that make our neighbourhood so special. 

Discover how you can get involved (if you’re not already) and how we can all help local charities and projects this year and beyond. 

Support for the National Literacy Trust

Last year we helped parents keep children reading during the summer holidays as part of our celebrations to mark British Land’s 11-year partnership with the National Literacy Trust. At Paddington Central, we welcomed 170 school children from Edward Wilson School and Gateway Academy for a storytelling session with professional storyteller Alim Kamara, aimed at helping them fall in love with reading. Since the programme launched at Paddington, it has supported almost 1,600 school children and seen almost 5,000 books donated across the city.

Visit our Community Garden

Kingdom Street is home to the biodiverse Paddington Central Community Garden which hosts local schools and community groups helping them to learn about the importance of (and take an active part in) local food production, healthy eating and action. It’s somewhere people can grow food, meet, enjoy and learn new skills while bird boxes, bug hotels, sedum roofs and pollinator-friendly plants attract birds, butterflies and insects.

North Paddington Food Bank support local residents across Westminster by providing advice and emergency income in the form of supermarket food vouchers. They are the only service to be offering this form of support in Westminster, and since moving to a ‘Cash First’ model at the start of November last year, it’s proved hugely popular. They have been able to give households more control and dignity to choose and buy their own food. Find out more here.

PiP Fruitful placements

Paddington Central has supported the social enterprise charity PiP (Pursuing Independent Paths) for more than ten years – helping to support adults with learning disabilities build independence and access to employment and training skills.

The Fruitful initiative enables PiP students to gain work experience by serving fruit and making smoothies at a number of community partners’ offices, for staff and visitors.

Bright Lights

Earlier this year Paddington Central hosted free employment training to jobseekers in Westminster as part of its ongoing employment training programme Bright Lights.  

In partnership with a training provider, The Launch Group, the Bright Lights initiative offers training across a range of jobs – including security, front of house, and reception roles, helping local residents to develop essential skills for employment.  

Jobseekers in the Westminster area received training and support on valuable skills such as building teamwork, communication, and interview skills. 

Career Ready

Paddington Central’s partnership with national social mobility charity Career Ready has offered students a four-week paid internship each year since 2019. 

As part of the collaboration, this year Career Ready has offered an Internship Investment Fund offering businesses at Paddington Central to apply for funding. This will be used to help cover the cost of hosting a student from the local community for an internship in July and August. 

Career Ready work with 500 students across London. They offer masterclasses, mentoring and workplace visits as well as paid internships.

The aim of the partnership is to nurture key skills in young, diverse talent to help access employment following school.

Paddington Arts exhibition at 2 Kingdom Street

Paddington Arts, a local charity which encourages young people to enjoy the arts, hosted an exhibition at 2 Kingdom Street showcasing a range of art and photography from local schoolchildren.

Artwork from children at St Peter’s Primary, St Mary of the Angel’s Primary and Ark Atwood Primary School was on display at the Campus for three weeks. Campus workers across Paddington Central came along to support local young artists by experiencing the power of art in the local community.

Celebrating local women who are leading our community

On International Women’s Day, we profiled a number of women who are changing the world around us such as Lena Choudary-Salter, founder of Mosaic Community Trust which supports socially and economically isolated communities encouraging people from all backgrounds and faiths to learn from one another to create an enriched community. Find out more here. 

Supporting Pride

Each year, we’re proud to support Pride and British Land and Paddington Central are working with Just Like Us, an LGBT+ charity whose mission is to empower young people to be role models championing LGBT+ equality at school and work. Last year we commissioned a documentary about the charity and set up the contactless Giving Box next to our rainbow-covered amphitheatre steps.  

To find out more about our community initiatives and the Paddington Central Community Fund, download  My Paddington Central. 

At My Paddington Central you will also be able to register for events, sign up to, exclusive deals, and receive digital access for touch-free journeys and much more.