A High Wycombe laundrette owner will once again provide a free service for rough sleepers and the homeless in the town as winter approaches.

Qumar Aziz, who has been the proprietor of the Laundry Room on Desborough Road since 2013, told the Free Press that he ‘wants to help’ as people in the area after he was inspired to launch the initiative seven and a half years ago.

He has also encouraged those in the town and the surrounding areas ‘to not throw any blankets away’, as he aims to give those who do not have a home.

When asked what sparked the idea in February 2017, he said: “I’ll never forget it.

“I came into work and saw a man was sitting outside the shop with a money pot.

“He was cold and wet so I told him to come inside, away from the rain.

“We started talking and I told him to put his clothes and other bits in the washer/dryer and after speaking to my brother, I thought we should offer a free service for the homeless in the area.

“Since then, we must have helped over 1,000 people at least in that time.

“We have also partnered up with the Wycombe Homeless Connection and they have been great in sending people our way.

“They have been amazing as we try our best to help as many people as we can.

“I was born in Pakistan but I was brought up in High Wycombe, so we know everyone.

“We know the community and growing up here, I want to help and it’s all about the smiles.

“It costs us money but the smiles people have when we help is priceless.”

The scheme works through homeless people receiving tokens from the Wycombe Homeless Connection, which will then get taken to the Laundry Room for a free wash.

Mr Aziz also, out of his own time, helps the homeless in the surrounding areas, travelling to places as far out as Aylesbury, to secure surpluss blankets and tents.

These are then given to rough sleepers across South and Central Buckinghamshire.

He continued: “It’s all about the smiles.

“We just want to help people at the end of the day and to be honest, I get embarrassed when people say thank you because I’m not God or anything like that.

“Everyone wants to be dry and warm, and we want to help as many people as we can, as we know this is pretty much the only laundrette in the area.

The Laundry Room has been in the town since 1951, with Mr Aziz acquiring the business in 2013.

He admitted that ‘he didn’t want to change much’ as the idea was to ‘keep it the same’.

For more information, visit www.the-laundryroom.co.uk.