When it became clear that we were going into a lockdown situation,
I was structuring the business to close
and I was in detailed talks with our insurance company
as to how to make a claim in a pandemic situation
and indeed were we covered and that's when I had a phone call
from Shrewsbury council.
We met the council that afternoon within 20 minutes we had made the decision,
yes, we will do this and we agreed to take in the homeless.
When I was living rough on the streets, do you know what I mean,
lots of people would step away from me which is understandable.
When this virus came to light, it was like, everybody was scared,
nobody knew anything about it, nobody knows much about it now.
It's an unseen killer, isn't it?
We are not interacting with people outside, we're not going off into other places,
obviously we go to the shop but you know ...
We are one big family in there so ...
When you first came here, did you think that people like Charlie and Mike would ...
We've gone from the best part of 30 odd staff
to a nucleus of about seven.
We've got the chicken in, being roasted, we've got the roast potatoes,
we've got the vegetables in ...
Yorkshire pudding.
Tomorrow they're insisting they want an English breakfast for supper
but they have an afternoon tea in the afternoon and then an English breakfast for supper
because they're craving stodgy food, unfortunately.
The first order that came in, it made me cry ...
I just stood and cried like a big baby,
I was just so overwhelmed that the kindness of people
it's just absolutely superb.
We agreed with the Council that we would take all the people living living rough
on the streets in Shrewsbury
and the council did a fantastic job in
encouraging them to leave their natural habitat and to walk them,
literally walk them with their rucksack from the natural home of a doorway or pod bench
into a hotel that they'd only walk past for a number of years.
Easily, easily. You're very flexible, aren't you?
I'm 35 now, I would have been 16 or 17 then ...
Yeah, it was about 20 years ago.
It was a path where I didn't know whether I wanted to be a chef or ...
I wasn't too sure but I worked for a chef here called Mick
and he was actually a brilliant bloke, he had a lot of patience with us,
he taught us the best he could, he was a nice one to be fair ...
He was very good, wasn't he?
Did you recognise him when he came in?
I did.
Over the years we've probably employed 600 or 700 people,
so I couldn't quite picture where I've seen you ...
It was through an agency as well.
But I knew he was a troublemaker straight away.
I knew that, immediately.
To me it's clear as day light that this is an individual
that simply does not like what we're doing
and does not want these people living opposite him.
If you lived 400 yards away you probably wouldn't mind.
They've shouted to our residents and they've shouted some very unkind words
about them being ex-homeless people and they've wind them up
which to the extent that they have reacted and then it's hard for us to
bring them back down again and explain to them that they shouldn't react,
you know, leave it up to us to sort it out.
But they're used to it, they're used to being discriminated against,
it's just discrimination again.
— It is, 100%.
Has being in the hotel been different to what you thought it might be?
Yeah, kind of, like from what you get down in Manchester.
Do you know what I mean?
You go in properties like, in hotels like that, they look at you and think you're just a junkie.
You're on the streets, you're just a junkie.
Do you know what I mean?
But in here, they are looking at us as respectable and thinking ...
I see that Mr Matthews is looking at me like that,
thinking, he had a bad patch, but he's coming up here, for a fresh start
and he wants a fresh start, do you know what I mean?
And looking into Mr Matthews eyes you probably ...
I don't feel like I've been homeless at all,
since I coming here I feel I've got my life back.
I'll be honest about it, I have walked past them and I thought to myself,
you know, that you just need to go and get a job and come off the streets,
this isn't ... it's not acceptable to sit on the street begging for money all the time.
Has this changed?
Yes, completely.
Because I realise now that these individuals are there often through no fault of their own.
I've said before that they've just had a bad roll of the dice.
Perfect fit.
Oh, that is very you, actually.
Do you think, after this, that you guys will stay in contact?
We might not see each other for a little bit
but I tell you what I am thinking, we see each other, we ran across broken glass to get ...
I am actually enjoying this to be honest with you,
I'm finding it very, very rewarding.
We're actively encouraging two individuals to actually apply for positions here.
It would be a nice end to the story if we end up returning to normal work
and returning the business to be an hotel again that these individuals are offered
employment and are able to work with us.
That would be a nice end of it all.