Advertisement
Housing

Homelessness charity launches ‘pay-it-forward’ café

A new coffee shop, launched by homelessness charity Social Bites, will let people buy food for homeless people.

A new coffee shop will operate a ‘pay-it-forward’ system allowing customers to buy a meal or hot drink for someone experiencing homelessness.

The café is located in Westminster, the area with the highest rate of rough sleeping in England – more than three times as many as Manchester.

It is the sixth launched by homelessness charity Social Bite, and its first site outside of Scotland. The café will employ three people who have experienced homelessness, as well as employing a full-time support worker, who will provide them with practical and emotional support.

“The idea behind [the café] is that it competes in the high street environment with the big competitors, but ultimately, it is a social mission that underpins it”, says Social Bite co-founder Josh Littlejohn.

“It’s not just about giving someone a free lunch or free hot drink: it’s about the psychological element. If you are in a situation of homelessness, you tend to feel quite stigmatised, and quite excluded and marginalised, so just being able to access a high street environment, to join a queue alongside some office workers and be treated as a customer. That’s quite an important psychological element beyond the food.”

Social Bite started life as a sandwich shop in Edinburgh, back in 2012. Since then, the social enterprise has dramatically expanded, becoming a major player in the fight against homelessness in Scotland.

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

It is now the UK’s largest distributor of free fresh food to homeless people, supplying 180,000 items each year. The pandemic saw Social Bite distribute over 800,000 emergency food packs and essential items.

The charity has been closely involved in the development of Scotland’s Housing First programme, which has housed more than 454 rough sleepers so far. The Social Bite Village – built by the charity in 2018 ­– has served as a ‘blueprint’, demonstrating the difference that independent housing can make for those recovering from homelessness.

The Edinburgh café has even attracted high-profile visitors such as Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, and several members of the royal family.

“When we opened the first café, it didn’t really have anything to do with the homelessness issue”, says Littlejohn. “There was a young man called Pete, who was 19 years old, and he was selling the Big Issue magazine just outside the front door of the café.

“He came in one day, plucked up the courage, and he asked us if he could have a job. And we thought: ‘Why not?’, and we gave him the job in our kitchen”, he continued.

“That’s how it originated 10 years ago, and we started to offer jobs in the café to people that were largely local Big Issue sellers. We realised just how important employment could be for someone to give them that foundation to change their lives.”

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
Labour wants to shake-up the controversial Right to Buy scheme with these three steps
Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner and housing minister Matthew Pennycook
Right to buy

Labour wants to shake-up the controversial Right to Buy scheme with these three steps

Over 10 times more women sleeping rough than official stats suggest, report says
A woman on the street
Rough sleeping

Over 10 times more women sleeping rough than official stats suggest, report says

Labour wants to build 300,000 affordable and social homes in 10 years. But is it enough?
Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner
Social housing

Labour wants to build 300,000 affordable and social homes in 10 years. But is it enough?

Rough sleeping in London hits record high amid warnings of benefit cuts making things worse
a homeless man sitting on the street with his dog
Rough sleeping

Rough sleeping in London hits record high amid warnings of benefit cuts making things worse

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