Advertisement
News

Big Issue vendor stories are on display in a Bath museum

The exhibition, held at the Museum of Bath at Work, has already been visited by the Mayor and well-known local vendors

The Museum of Bath at Work is giving visitors a taste of a day life in the life of a Big Issue vendor.

The special exhibition opened on 5 April and will run until 1 September. It is the biggest ever held in the museum. The collection consists of audio, photos and video and features the work of Bath photographer Felicity McMahon.

Organiser of the exhibition and Big Issue service broker Geo Leonard said: “For me it’s like stepping into the high street, the exhibition is so colourful. The interviews were all conducted outside so you can hear all the everyday life sounds.”

Also showing at the exhibition is a video for vendors – and by vendors – offering advice on how to sell the magazine.

Vendors’ stories take centre stage at the museum, detailing how they came to sell The Big Issue and how the role has changed their lives.

Organisers hope the exhibition will highlight the hard work put in by Big Issue vendors to making a profit without begging. Leonard added: “I hope people can get a better idea of the ups and downs of selling on the streets. They’ve got the hardest job in the world.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertisement

“They’re working against a lot of prejudices that people have about those on the streets and those that sell The Big Issue.”

The Mayor of Bath, Patrick Anketell-Jones, and his wife visited the exhibition in its first few days. Adie Jones was the first of Bath’s local vendors to visit the exhibit.

Bath was the second ever city in the UK to sell The Big Issue when it spread from London in 1991. Leonard said: “The overwhelming theme from the pictures and audio is that vendors really value the connection they get with the wider community.”

The Museum of Bath at Work is open 10.30am until 5pm seven days a week and entry costs £8 for adults, £7 for concessions and £5 for children.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

SIGN THE PETITION

Will you sign Big Issue's petition to ask Keir Starmer to pass a Poverty Zero law? It's time to hold government to account on poverty once and for all.

Recommended for you

Read All
Thousands of disabled people face ten-month wait for benefits due to DWP backlog
"We're being... by the government", a poster warns at a disability benefits protest.
Disability benefits

Thousands of disabled people face ten-month wait for benefits due to DWP backlog

How did benefit cuts land Keir Starmer in such a dreadful mess?
Disability benefits

How did benefit cuts land Keir Starmer in such a dreadful mess?

Disability benefit cuts violate human rights even with concessions, MPs warned ahead of vote
Keir Starmer
Disability benefits

Disability benefit cuts violate human rights even with concessions, MPs warned ahead of vote

It never crossed my mind I might need disability benefits. Now I don't know where I'd be without PIP
Haitham Elmasri
Disability benefits

It never crossed my mind I might need disability benefits. Now I don't know where I'd be without PIP

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue