Homeless charity plea to move soup kitchen indoors

Hundreds queue for hot meals in central Glasgow

A homeless charity which operates Scotland's busiest outdoor soup kitchen has made a plea for help to find a building as winter approaches.

Homeless Project Scotland (HPS) runs a soup kitchen under a bridge in central Glasgow three nights a week, serving hundreds of meals each time.

The charity said there were often 200 people queueing for food and it needed a building as the weather got colder.

It said the need to move people inside had never been greater.

National operations manager Alan Hamilton said: "It's unpredictable just how bad it could get come winter.

"The cost of living is going up, recessions, Christmastime, that queue could be all the way to George Square."

The St Francis Centre in the Gorbals was put forward by the council as a possible location

Glasgow City Council said it had offered two properties to HPS but both were declined.

The charity said one location in Cadogan Square was rejected because it was a "dingy basement".

However, Colin McInnes, the charity's chairman and co-founder, denied that a second location had been turned down.

He said he first contacted the council expressing a need for a building in May 2021. A month later he and other members of HPS visited a potential site at the St Francis Centre in the Gorbals.

The centre was then being renovated but the council felt it could be a viable option once work was completed.

However, the council said the offer was "declined verbally" earlier this year.

Mr McInnes told BBC Scotland: "Never once did we say we weren't interested.

"There was no written communication, they made an assumption. I think they just don't want to help us."

It was announced on Friday that the St Francis Centre will be used as a 'welcome place' for people to keep warm this winter.

The council pledged their support towards finding accommodation for the HPS during a council meeting in June.

A spokesman said: "We will continue to work with the charity as far as possible but it must stressed we have a limited number of properties at our disposal in central Glasgow suitable for the project's purposes."

Mr Sine believes that without the soup kitchen more people would be homeless

On Wednesday night, Henry Sine was a part of the queue for the soup kitchen underneath the Hielanman's Umbrella railway bridge on Argyle Street.

At times people were arguing and fighting in the street and police were eventually called, something Mr Sine has experienced before.

"On Friday night there's fights, it doesn't happen every night but sometimes you get drunks and 'junkies' who start pushing and fighting," he said.

"I've been pushed about seven or eight times here, I've actually been in the hospital due to it. There's security, but they can't be everywhere."

He believes that a building would make the soup kitchen safer for those queueing up to use it.

The charity provide a range of hot and cold meals

The charity said operating from a building would allow it to extend its hours.

"If we opened up 24 hours a day we could be feeding hundreds more and we could be heating the elderly and vulnerable this winter," Mr McInnes said.

Mr Hamilton added: "If they get us a building we're going to pay for the rates, the rent and the upkeep. We're not looking somewhere for free.

"It would give these people somewhere safe and warm, give them dignity and respect. What does a pavement give somebody, apart from hypothermia?"