A foodbank was told to get out of its four-year home on Christmas Eve after it was forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bus Shelter charity had been working out of Phoenix House in Central Avenue, Sittingbourne, which opened in 1991 and was forced to shut in March this year because of Covid-19.

In October Swale Community Centres (SCC), the charitable company set up to manage Phoenix House, said with “great regret” it had decided not to reopen the centre.

The Bus Shelter organisation, which helps vulnerable people in the community by providing care, food packages and meals, had still been able to use the site for storage however, and was operating from the building’s car park.

Founder Tony Cooper said he and other volunteers had expected to be able to use the centre until January.

“It’s made things really hard for us as we had a large food delivery that day and struggled to get it in and we’re now struggling trying to find places to keep our stock.

“It’s also hard being in multiple places rather than having our own base. I’m angry we can’t cook hot meals anymore for the vulnerable and homeless who need them.”

'It’s rubbish...'

Mr Cooper also feels the foodbank has been let down after missing out on funding from Swale council, which awarded £20,000 to Swale Foodbank and Family Foodbank earlier in the winter.

However, landlords Kent County Council have since agreed the Bus Shelter can still use the building while it finds a new home.

A spokesman said: “The current tenant of Phoenix House, Swale Community Centres, took the decision to close its operation of hiring space to community groups at Phoenix House, which was a difficult decision for itself but this has also impacted on some of its users.

“It informed its staff and users of the decision around the beginning of September.

“SCC recently informed KCC some users were having in finding alternative accommodation.

“While KCC cannot give any long-term guarantees of groups being able to use the building it has agreed to allow those organisations still using the building to continue to do so whilst they find a new home over the next few months.”

Mr Cooper, who set up the charity in December 2016, revealed the group was told if it wanted to use the building it would need to phone a key holder.

“It’s rubbish. We had a donation on Christmas Eve after 5pm and no key holder wanted to be coming out. If they mean we can use it just for storage that would still be hard because what if we needed a food parcel urgently?”

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