‘Free meals for homeless’ cafe in London’s East End at risk as donations dry up
The founder of a London social enterprise that gives free meals to refugees and the homeless has said it is at risk of closure because the cost of living crisis has led to a collapse in sales and donations.
Ruth Rogers, the founder of The Canvas in the East End of London, said there had been a dramatic collapse in trade in its cafe in recent weeks, with takings so low that one day she thought its tills were broken.
“At 3pm last Thursday, I had to ask my manager if the till system had broken because sales were at £57,” said Rogers. “We’d been open since 10am. Before the pandemic it would have been £300-400 by that point in the day.”
While the cafe’s sales were low after lockdown, they had started growing again in the early part of 2022, said Rogers of the community hub close to Brick Lane in Tower Hamlets, which has the highest child poverty rate of all the London boroughs.
“Once we’d got past Omicron, sales were rising month on month by an average of 17.5%,” said Rogers. “But April was 5% down on March and May is looking like 15% down on April. This feels like a direct impact of the cost of living issues people are facing.
“We’ve got a fantastic menu, our space is welcoming, our team are working their socks off but if people aren’t coming through the door because they feel they can’t afford to … how can any small business survive, let alone one like The Canvas? I know other places like us are already closing.”
Trade in the cafe used to be brisk with extra income generated from renting out its event space. Customers would “pay it forward” by adding the cost of a drink, snack or hot meal to their order “for someone who might not be able to afford their own”, enabling the cafe to hand out free food and drinks.
In January, however,
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