Brand discovers that running a cafe isn’t his cup of tea

OH DEAR. One-time party animal Russell Brand’s retreat into provincial tranquillity is even affecting the Trew Era Café, the Hackney social enterprise he backed financially last year. In the first six months, staff tell me, he was there every day. Now, since moving to Henley-on-Thames with fiancee Laura Gallacher, who is expecting his baby, the star (with Laura, right) rarely visits. Meanwhile, the cafe, which employs recovering drug addicts, is looking tired, with the street sign faded and even the panini machine out of order. The manager tells me there are plans to merge with a charity next door. Russell, 41, says: ‘I’m donating this cafe to RAPt – a great charity that helps prisoners stay clean. If I ever get sent down, I hope this’ll mean I get a cushy job in the library.’