Buskers performing outside a town centre coffee shop have raised more than £1,700 for victims of the Ukraine conflict.

Brian Hoyle, a familiar face from the Folkestone music scene, has been regularly performing with friends outside The Chambers bar and cafe on Sandgate Road.

Brian Hoyle and his supporting cast busking for Ukraine

Chambers owner Chris Smith, who has been among the leading figures coordinating the local response to the humanitarian catastrophe in eastern Europe, says they have been astounded by the kindness of the response to the pavement performances.

"It's just donations from people walking by and he [Brian] comes in every day and his face just drops at the amount of generosity of people," he said.

"We're actively trying to raise funds still, we're trying to put on all sorts of events and fundraisers and people have been coming to us in droves trying to organise things.

"We'll give them the space, we'll give them the tech, we'll give them the support, if they come up with an idea."

Mr Smith and his colleagues at The Chambers first got involved with the relief effort for war-torn Ukraine after a friend and business associate, Hector Bowles, went to the Ukrainian border from his home in Bulgaria to see for himself the refugee crisis and how he could help.

"He drove across Bulgaria, got to the Romanian border with Ukraine and then was just blown away in the most negative way about all things he saw," Mr Smith explained.

"So his reaction to that was so intensely strong that he made the decision there and then that he was going to do everything he could.

"He's a close friend, and we just wanted to do the same. So we have been involved with trying to get as much together as we can in the way of donations.

"We used our bar, which is extensive, it's a big place, for donations and over one weekend we completely filled every inch of floor space we had. It was like an Amazon sorting depot at Christmas. The coffee shop was full, all our storage and lockups here were full, and so was the floor downstairs, every inch of it."

Linking up with local firm Bigjigs Toys, and aid groups DIY Ukraine and Kent Help for Ukraine, supplies were collected and shipped out to help those fleeing the Russian aggression and those left behind.

"They have sent out, to date, 12 articulated lorries of donations from all the stuff that's been collated there at their warehouse site up on Park Farm," Mr Smith said.

"They're now concentrating on the more helpful items, such as food, but cash is always king.

"You can do a great deal more with a hundred pounds out in Poland or Ukraine than you can by spending here and shipping it out there."

More fundraising events at The Chambers and elsewhere in Folkestone are planned for the spring and summer.