For years, the laundrette business Laundry Room in High Wycombe has helped the town’s homeless people with free washes and duvets.

Qumar Aziz, owner of Landry Room in High Wycombe on Desborough Road could see that the homeless people in High Wycombe were badly hit by the Covid pandemic.

He tried his best to help, despite Covid also affecting his family.

“The homeless people know that there’s a service which is available from a certain time, and it’s a service that’s open throughout the year.

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“Although we were an essential business, we had to close because I had to put my parents’ safety first.

“A few days later I had decided to close, we kept getting calls “please could you please open up, we really need to get our washing done.”

“So I put it out in the community that we’re open a few hours a day just for the homeless and the people who haven’t got a washing machine at home, so they can pop in and use the service.

The pandemic and lockdown shutting places was particularly grim for the town’s homeless people.

He said: “Everything was closed for them, even the places they would usually go to get help.”

He praised the High Wycombe community and local’s for stepping up and making their work possible.

He said: “There’s a lot of negativity in the news and social media, and I want to say we’ve got a really good community in High Wycombe with kind hearted people in there.

“It was a difficult time, but luckily in High Wycombe we’ve got a great community, who really supported us throughout the pandemic, people who supported us and got behind us.

“Without this community we wouldn’t have been able to offer this homeless service and do some much for our community.

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Up to 900 people have taken up free washes since 2017, Mr Aziz estimated.

Despite the approaching spring and higher temperatures, he and his team also hand out duvets to rough sleepers in the town.

“Local people drop them off to us, so we’ll wash and fresh them up, and we go around Buckinghamshire looking for people who are sleeping rough and hand them out.”

The good Samaritan business owner first started the homeless support project in 2017.

In 2019, the laundrette owner and his team paid and handed out two-man tents not just in High Wycombe but also in Marlow and Aylesbury.

A senior support worker from Wycombe Homeless Connection said: “Rough sleeping is on the rise in Wycombe and across south Bucks.

That local people and businesses are moved to help in practical ways like this brings hope to people who have lost their home.

 

“We look forward to working with the Laundry Room again to make sure anyone who needs this support can get it.”