Cost of Living: Cambourne warm hub trying to increase capacity

Mahesh Hettiarachchi said he never thought the warm hub would have such high demand

The founder of a warm hub said the cost of living crisis had caused such a surge in demand it needed to increase capacity.

Hope Against Poverty runs the hub in Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, which has seen a spike in visitors since energy bills increased.

One service user said the hub was a "lifeline" for his young family.

Mahesh Hettiarachchi, founder of the hub, said "the flow [of people] is continuous".

Alfie Simms, from Cambourne, visits the hub with his partner and baby.

He said despite having three jobs between them they were still finding it hard to cope financially.

He said: "My partner currently works 12-hour shifts at a time. I work two jobs and somehow we still struggle.

"Whatever we do it never seems to be enough."

Alfie Simms said the hub was an important place for his family

Mr Simms said he and his family had met many people at the hub.

"It's nice to come here, have a cup of tea, have a coffee. It's very important for the company and you get to meet new people as well," he said.

"You get to see people from all walks of life that are struggling as well, not just yourselves."

Mr Simms said the struggle for young families was "a lot worse" than people think.

"We work so hard," he said.

"The way people look at the people who do have benefits, as if they sit around all day doing nothing, that's not the case in a lot of situations."

The warm hub was a "massive lifeline" for his family, he added.

The warm hub is looking to try and increase seating capacity to meet demand

Mr Hettiarachchi said the service had seen a stark increase in usage since the last energy bill increase.

He said: "It hit in a bad way families, especially those on benefits or bigger families, and it affected everyone going through hardships.

"The demand increased 80%, there were more people in our warm hubs and accessing the food hub more.

"The flow is continuous, we are trying to increase our seating capacity, we don't have enough space.

"We never thought it would be this much."