It’s half past four in the afternoon and it’s already night. London. Zero degrees on the street and in the famous cafeteria Royal Opera House, a dozen people are reading, working on a laptop, or just hanging out in silence. There is no function that day and if they are there it is not from the love of art.
luxury building inside Covent GardenWorld opera and ballet temple with a history of 290 years, thousands of ‘hot banks’ Open throughout the UK. The cost of the spiral of life and the astronomical price of energy (80% increase on October 1) He encouraged the opening of these places where people can benefit from heating and free Wi-Fi without consuming anything or spending money.
‘Dickens’ resources
One of the first to come up with this idea last July was a journalist. martin lewis, Savings and finance specialist. “I can’t believe I wrote this, but I wonder if we’ll need ‘heat banks’ this winter, equivalent to ‘food banks’ where people who can’t afford to get warm are invited to spend their days,” he wrote on Twitter. Already a month ago Bristol Labor Mayor, Marvin Rees had anticipated that extraordinary measures would be necessary.
“It almost feels like we’re in the middle of an event war, However, we will work with communities to create hotspots where people can go this fall if they need to.” “Dickensians”, more typical of the Victorian misery described by great writers, as some have said. Charles Dickens. But something unthinkable was gaining ground in one of the world’s richest powers. Today, new ‘banks’ are popping up across the country.
Libraries, churches, cultural centers, neighborhood associationsEven private businesses opened their doors. Some all day, others a few hours a week. More than 50% of councils in England and Wales participated, supporting the organizers. Warm Welcome, one of the engines of the campaign, counted 350 such reception areas in October. on the eve of Christmas that figure has been exceeded 3,600. In Ipswich, the Gainsborough Library, like many parishes, offers free coffee and tea. One of the ‘heat banks’ in Reading is a converted old bar.
Soup to warm you up
Nutrition Center, a community center in West London, opens at noon Monday through Friday. It has a large, cheerful and well-heated room with long tables, with a large kitchen in the background. Part of a charity that focuses on good recipes and low cost healthy eating for low-income people. This Monday, the only food menu to choose from Lentil soup, carrot soup, or baked vegetables with mozzarella. It costs five pounds (5.7 euros) or free if someone can’t pay.
There is about twenty customers, almost all male eat in silence alone. Most seem to be regulars in a neighborhood where the great wealth of Holland Park is only two bus stops away from a much more precarious neighborhood. Cooking classes are held on site and cookbooks are on the shelves. Jamie Oliver, related to Antonio Carluccio and mary fruit. The room is also now a ‘heat bank’.
Lots of Elsies
According to the Office of National Statistics, 23% of Brits will not be able to adequately heat their homes, occasionally or permanently. 16% are worried or very worried about not getting enough food. 6% are already in this situation before they can get enough of filling their plate by the end of the month. Working from home without heat or being at home without a job and with little food is a danger to physical and mental health. the demand in food banks increased rapidly, strikes demanding wage increases are increasing.
last may story Elsie, The 77-year-old retiree ran around on buses for days to warm up because he could not afford the heating expenses with his free transportation card. By then his bill had risen from £17 a month to £85 a month. Now this bill is completely out of reach for many ‘Elsies’.