Noreen Oliver MBE (23 April 1960 – 16 December 2023) was a British businesswoman, rehabilitation centre owner and advocate of drug and alcohol policy reform.
She has stated that BAC has one of the highest rates of success for helping people rehabilitate from drug and alcohol addictions and integrate into society.
[3][6] The centre earned the highest scores in the United Kingdom from the Healthcare Commission in 2006[7] and has become nationally renowned, eliciting praise from Prime Minister David Cameron.
[8] Oliver established the O'Connor Gateway Trust,[9][10] a charitable organisation that helps recovering drug addicts and alcoholics gain the necessary skills and qualifications for employment, and to provide a safe, social environment free from drugs or alcohol for recovering addicts.
The trust also runs Recovery Is Out There (RIOT), a community group formed of recovering addicts who have been through the BAC programme.
Langan's Tea Rooms, which takes its title from her maiden name, was built in a former restaurant located in a historic building, Burton House.
[1] In 2010, she founded the Recovery Group UK, an alliance of academics, rehabilitation service providers and drug- and alcohol-related organisations.
Oliver was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to disadvantaged people in Staffordshire, as part of the 2009 New Year Honours.
In October 2015, she received an Amy Winehouse Foundation Award for Services to Recovery Communities across the UK.
[5] She was interviewed in his 2014 BBC Three documentary, End the Drugs War, in which Brand visited the BAC Centre and attended a graduation ceremony for a recovering addict who had just completed the programme.
He also visited the Langan's Tea Rooms; he subsequently opened a similar social enterprise, the Trew Era Cafe.