Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Alexandra Sims

Jeremy Corbyn buys meals for homeless people at Scottish cafe

Jeremy Corbyn surprised customers at a Scottish café when he visited the sandwich shop and bought meals for homeless people.

The Labour leader visited Social Bite, a non-profit café in Glasgow, on Friday and pre-paid for meals to be given to two members of the city's homeless community.

The café said: “Jeremy Corbyn came into Social Bite Bothwell Street in Glasgow for his breakfast this morning.

“He bought his own bagel and pre-paid for a few of our ‘suspended’ meals for the homeless.”

Mr Corbyn said over Twitter: “Wonderful breakfast at Social Bite in Glasgow. Great enterprise giving opportunity and hope. Well done!”

A customer told Huffington Post: “At first people weren't sure if it was him because he was just sitting in the shop alone eating a bacon and egg roll.

"But then someone approached him and he was really chatty and friendly. He even got behind the counter and was having a laugh with staff."

Livvy Campbell wrote on Facebook: “I was there at the same time. He was very low key no press or flunkies or even police.”

Social Bite has four shops based in Glasgow and Edinburgh and one in four of their team are formally homeless people.

Their programme, “Suspended Coffee and Food”, allows customers to pay in advance for a coffee or item of food from their menu for a homeless person to come in and claim. The shop says they currently provide food and hot drinks to over 30 people in each of their shops.

Mr Corbyn has long-urged the government to do more to tackle homelessness in Britain. In 1990, in one of his first televised appearances in PMQs, Mr Corbyn attacked the then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over her government’s record on homelessness in Britain.

Homelessness remains a pressing issue, with the number of people sleeping rough in England rising from 1,768 in 2010 to 2,744 last year.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.