Swindon restaurant offers discount in exchange for knives

Cross Kitchenn and Trade The Blade founder Odane Cross with ambassadors Jordan Turner and Danyelle King from Change Lives No To Knives

The owner of a new restaurant is hoping to take knives off the streets of his community by offering a discount to anyone handing over a blade.

Odane Cross, 30, will offer 75% off bills when Cross Kitchenn opens in Swindon on 10 March.

Traditional jerk pan-cooked food takes centre stage with a knife amnesty box close by.

Mr Cross has teamed up with a charity set up in memory of Lee Turner who was stabbed to death in the town in 2021.

Mr Cross rolling Jamaican fried festival dumplings

The Caribbean takeaway restaurant will also offer young people work opportunities and the chance to obtain catering qualifications.

A similar project was set up in Reading last year and in the first week took over 60 blades off the streets.

Mr Cross, who has been stabbed himself, said knife crime has had a big impact on his life.

"It's affected me in a lot of ways I've lost a lot of people - my friend died in my arms, my kid's god brother died two years ago me and my kids witnessed somebody being stabbed in a car park in Reading," he said.

"Mentally it affects me, some days I can't sleep but I've gotta try to get through it and try to keep going. To me one knife saves fifteen lives because if I take one knife away, I'm saving your life and family members."

"I got stabbed in my back twice, one was 2cm from my spine, that was in 2007. I don't want to re-live that again, I'll be honest with you, so that's why I carry my stab proof vest all the time," he added.

Mr Cross says he now carries a stab proof vest after being stabbed twice in the back

Jordan Turner and Danyelle King from the Change Lives No To Knives charity are ambassadors for the project.

Step inside Cross Kitchenn and listen to Mr Cross, Ms Turner and Ms King speak to BBC Radio Wiltshire

Jordan's brother Lee, 33, died from a fatal stab wound in Park North, Swindon in October 2021.

"He was stabbed once, straight to the heart and that was it nothing could be done to save him," Jordan said.

"We're not here to judge people we just want the knives off the street. We'll be sign posting them here [Cross Kitchenn], anyone who needs a chat or feels down there's a safe space here for them."

Ms King and Ms Turner, Cross Kitchenn ambassadors and founders of the charity Change Lives No to Knives

Ms King said: "As a mother myself you're just relieved when you see your son come through that door you think, thank Jesus, I got my son tonight."

"I want to go out there and try to get an understanding as to why they're making these choices in their young lives, try and show them a better way, showing them those options of what's available to them," she added.

She said they also want to offer a private knife collection service for those without the confidence to hand over weapons in the restaurant, admitting she has mixed feelings for her safety.

"I trust God, I just think what will be will be. Yes we have to go out their with stab vests and make sure we're protected but I just see these individuals as they're our children, somebody's son, somebody's grandson, somebody's nephew and it's also females out there too, so I just walk with the faith of God," she said.