Free Shop & Welcome Hub
In our Free Shop asylum seekers and new refugees can shop for any basic living items they are in need of with dignity and choice. Items include clothes, shoes, toiletries, household items, food, and other essentials.
Within our shop, we have a Hub where we provide a warm welcome; inform newcomers on what other services and organisations are available to them; and simply sit for a chat for those that want to see a friendly face.
“At ABC you get the opportunity to choose. Choose the size, the colour, style of clothes. You can dress as you.”
Location
174b Cheltenham Road, Cotham, Bristol, BS6 5RE.
Opening Times
We are open Monday to Friday, from 10:30 am to 3.30 pm.
Please do not leave any donations outside if we are closed.
No appointment needed, please drop-in during opening hours!
Phone: 0117 336 8441 \ Email: freeshop@aidboxcommunity.co.uk
Item Donations
Our Free Shop runs on public donations, which means we function as a huge recycling project. In one year, we re-homed 199 160 items.
If you would like to donate your items to us please check out what items we are in need of and how to donate them. You can drop donations off at any time during opening hours.
Why are we running a Free Shop?
Depending on allocated accommodation, asylum seekers live on either £6.40 or £1.28 a day for food, sanitation, and clothing. The waiting list to receive this financial support currently averages 6 months. Asylum seekers who have been denied the right to remain receive nothing at all.
Refugees who have been granted the right to remain in the UK are legally allowed to work, but once granted permission to stay, only have 7 days to find somewhere to live, get a job, or to sign on at the job center in order to claim housing support. Unfortunately, this means many end up homeless.
The asylum system is long, isolating, complicated, and stressful. It involves travelling to various appointments with the threat of detention or deportation, navigating a new country, learning a new language and culture, having to wait from months to many years before being allowed to properly settle, and doing so with very little money for daily needs or support from loved ones.
Our Free Shop aims to provide practical aid, restore dignity and choice, and welcome all displaced people living in Bristol into our Aid Box community - where they can build friendships, seek support, and access our well-being services.
