Forty beds, every night of the year
No referral needed, no questions about documents at the door, and no photograph of anybody who stays here on any page we publish.
The shelter, counted
Four figures from the night register. None of them is a count of people, because a bed used three hundred times is not three hundred people and we do not know how many it is.
A night here
Published because the commonest reason somebody does not come in is not knowing what happens if they do.
Doors open
Names taken if you want to give one. Nobody is turned away for not having a document, and nobody is asked why they are here.
A meal
Cooked here, the same food for staff and residents. Anybody who arrives later than this still eats — there is always a plate held back.
Beds allocated
Same bed each night for anybody staying more than a week, which matters more than it sounds. Lockers for anything you would rather not sleep on.
Tea, and the door
Out by seven because the building is used in the day. Bags can be left, and most are.
Outreach, elsewhere
Two people walk the same six locations every afternoon. Most of the people who come in at 6.30 first met somebody on that walk.
What is actually short, this month
Updated when it changes rather than kept general. A permanent list produces four hundred blankets in December and none in June.
Blankets and thermal socks
The two things that run out fastest between December and February. Second-hand blankets are welcome and are washed here; socks we would rather were new.
Volunteer drivers, Tuesday and Thursday
Two hours in the afternoon for the outreach walk. No experience needed and the only requirement is that you can commit to the same afternoon for three months.
Rice, dal and cooking oil
Genuinely full until about March. We would rather tell you that than accept a sack that sits in a store for a year.
Money, unrestricted
The dullest answer and the most useful one. It buys whatever is short in the week it is short, which no donation of goods can.
Ways to help, and one we decline
Four answers, and the last is refused often enough to be worth stating.
Can I volunteer for an evening?
For the kitchen, yes, any evening. For the outreach walk, no — that needs the same face on the same route for months, and a rota of one-off volunteers is worse than nobody.
Can I donate cooked food?
No. We cook here, to a quantity that matches the night, and an unplanned delivery means either waste or somebody going without because the count was wrong. Uncooked staples yes, when they are on the short list.
Can my company come for a day?
For building work, painting or the garden — gladly, and there is always a list. Not in the shelter during opening hours: forty people who are sleeping rough do not need an audience, however well meant.
Can we photograph or film here?
No, and this is the one we refuse most often. Consent given by somebody who needs a bed tonight is not consent that holds up in a year when the photograph is still being shared. We will happily be photographed ourselves, in an empty building.
If you have seen somebody sleeping out tonight
Telephone us with a location. Two people will walk there this afternoon, and it does not matter if it turns out to be nothing.