What this Portsmouth company is doing to keep homeless people warm during cold snap

Temperatures have plunged across the city in recent days, with snow falling last night and yellow weather warnings for ice issued by the Met Office. 

4pm Print have decided to offer a helping hand to homeless and rough sleepers in Portsmouth by giving them warm clothes for free. 

In a post on Facebook, the company wrote: ‘FREE Clothes & a Hot Drink for anyone who’s homeless, sleeping rough or can’t afford to stay warm!

‘OK so it’s got cold, really cold.

‘We have over 100 brand new shirts and some hoodies / bags in our clearance section that we’re happy to give away to anyone struggling to keep warm at the moment.

‘Just show up when we’re open and take what you need.

‘One of our team will also be happy to make you a Costa Coffee / Hot Chocolate.’ 

4pm Print are based on Commerical Road in Portsmouth and will be open from 9.30am to 5.30pm on week days and 10am to 2pm on Saturdays. 

Explaining why he decided to give away the clothes, the company’s owner, Tim Hurrell said: ‘It's quite simple really us, it's all about community. 

‘As a small business we really value the support of the community. We are based in Portsmouth, our staff are from Portsmouth, so if people in Portsmouth are struggling we want to help. 

‘We haven’t done anything like this before. 

‘Although we've been in Portsmouth for 10 years, we only moved to Commercial Road 18 months ago, so we have been out of the eye before that. 

‘We have got a surplus of clothing , so we thought lets give them away instead of sell them on the cheap. 

‘Our expectations are extremely low but the response has been amazing.

‘We have been very surprised by the response. The post has been shared a hundred times and thousands of people have seen it. 

‘We have got a drink station for our clients, so we thought why not give them a hot drink to warm them up when they come to collect the clothes.’