Church offers 'pay what you can' meal

Local people are employed to help run the project

Food is being served on a "pay what you can" basis at a Ramsgate church two days a week to help residents with the rising cost of living.

St George's in Church Road is already home to a community supermarket but a light lunch will also be served over the winter to help raise vital funds for the church without excluding those with limited cash.

Local people are employed to run the project and kitchen, which serves homemade soup and a roll for £3 to those who can afford it.

Eighteen-year-old Harmony, who is employed part-time by 'Community Soup', told BBC Radio Kent: “It's nice to have a job around good people and do good things rather than just working in a pub”

“I like soup, I like people and I like the Church to be fair," she added.

Community Soup is part funded with £10,000 from the UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund, plus Project 200, a five-year regeneration initiative supported by Canterbury Diocese in the run-up to St George's 200th anniversary in 2027.

Around forty regulars attend a church-organised community meal on Tuesday evenings, but Community Soup aims to encourage people through its doors as food is offered inside the building.

It is hoped the project will become self-funding and help raise funds for vital structural repairs to the church.

Soup is served on Wednesday and Saturday lunchtime from 12:00 to 2:00 BST