Cheers! Pubs make huge donation to social supermarket

TWO Wetherspoon pubs in Coventry have made a huge donation to the city’s new social supermarket after closing their doors in the mass shut-down.

The Flying Standard and the City Arms have given away crates of food that would otherwise have been thrown out after the Government clamped down on social meeting places in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The supplies, including 1,000 eggs, packs of sausages and boxes of fruit and veg, will be split between the affordable supermarket, which opened its doors to some of the city’s most vulnerable and impoverished people two weeks ago, and Coventry Foodbank.

Sainsbury’s Canley, the Millpool pub, Starbucks and Christians Against Poverty have also made donations along with plenty of offers from people wanting to volunteer at the lifeline project in the former Foleshill Community Centre.

Henry House, team leader at the City Arms, coordinated the Wetherspoon delivery with managers from both sites and the team at Feeding Coventry, which runs the supermarket. The charity will use the food to replenish its stocks, which have been hit by panic-buying, and distribute a share to the city’s Foodbank.

Ellie House, project manager at Feeding Coventry, said: “We have been overwhelmed with the generous donations that have come in from local pubs and restaurants who are facing their own unprecedented difficulties. We would like to send a huge shout out to the Millpool, The City Arms and the Flying Standard for thinking of us at this time.

“The food will be included in shopping bags at the social supermarket and some will also go to the Good Neighbours project for meals which are being prepared for older or isolated people in the city.”

The Flying Standard, in Trinity Street, and the City Arms, in Earlsdon, closed on Friday after Boris Johnson ordered the mass closure of pubs, bars and restaurants.

The Millpool, off the Binley Road, was another pub that decided to donate its leftover stock to some of the most vulnerable and needy people in Coventry, who now face increased hardship, isolation and hunger amid the Covid19 outbreak.

Helen Needham, operations manager at the social supermarket, added: “I would like to say a massive thankyou to everyone who has donated and supported us. It means we will be able to distribute to families that are struggling at this difficult time.”

Food poverty will be alleviated for hundreds of people under the charity’s vision, with the neglected facility restored back to the heart of community life. Shoppers, including referrals from other organisations, register to use the supermarket before paying £4 a time to fill a bag with a range of groceries and essential items.

The affordable supermarket also plans to help distribute food to families whose children would otherwise have claimed free school meals before the gates closed last Friday (March 20).

The Coventry Telegraph has been reporting on some of the community responses to the crisis, and we have promised to be #Therewithyou through these difficult times.

To get in touch with the social supermarket call the team on 07944 996 294 .