A Letter from our Founder: From Poplar to Mablethorpe

Hi, my name is Liam. I was born in Poplar, East London, in the late eighties. I grew up in a household where the numbers rarely added up and the "cost-of-living crisis" was just called Tuesday, despite seeing my Mum doing nothing but her best!. I left school with almost no qualifications, facing the same closed doors that many of our young people face today.

For a long time, my life was defined by survival. I’ve experienced the coldness of unemployment, the exhausting bureaucracy of applying for support, and the crushing lack of empathy that often comes with it. I have navigated the realities of chronic pain every day of my adult life, managing conditions from Fibromyalgia to Peripheral Nerve Disease. I know what it feels like to be told a door is closed when you are at your most vulnerable.

But I also know what happens when a door stays open.

When I was a teenager, a youth hub called the Open Door Centre was my sanctuary. It was a safe place to socialise, to be off the streets, and to be around role models who saw our potential instead of our postcodes. Without that centre, my life—and the lives of many others—would have taken a very different path.

That experience stayed with me as I entered the workforce. I started in small operational roles, driven by a simple desire to help people. I eventually found myself at a global corporate firm, where I noticed that as the company grew, the "operational" side was getting lost in the complexity. Without being asked, I began creating the systems and training materials to help my colleagues succeed. I realised then that I was a "fixer"—someone who could see chaos and build a professional, dignified path through it.

My career became what my CEO later called a "Jungle Gym" of success. I climbed from the front lines to become a Head of People, with 160 employees across global locations. I learned how to scale businesses and connect high-level governance with real-world delivery.

So, why Mablethorpe? And why now?

Earlier this year, after a redundancy, my husband and I chose to leave the unaffordable stress of the south for the peace of Lincolnshire. But as I walked the streets and speak to people, I see the same closed doors I grew up with. A community with incredible heart but a lack of modern, dignified infrastructure.

The Community Table CIC is the result of my two worlds colliding. It is where my 20 years of corporate operational expertise meets my lived experience of hardship.

We aren't just opening a café or a supermarket; we are building the "Open Door" for the next generation. We are using a professional, "cross-subsidy" business model to ensure that we never have to rely on luck—only on a sustainable plan that treats every resident with the dignity they deserve.

I’ve spent my life climbing the jungle gym. Now, I’m building one for Mablethorpe.

Liam Grimes Founder & Director, The Community Table CIC