“It’s just a way of us giving back to the community,” says a fish and chip shop owner, who is giving away 100 free meals on Christmas Eve.
Raj Khaira, from Southampton, has owned Top Catch fish and chips in Shirley for five years and says he wants to support lonely people in the area.
He says he feels lucky to have a big family but knows for some customers a conversation with a shopkeeper might be the only one they have some days.
He says the shop will give portions of sausage and chips to those in need as a way of “giving back to the people who haven’t got family around them and sometimes can’t afford a hot meal”.
Mr Khaira speaks about working in business all of his life and how much he enjoys meeting “different people every day, from different backgrounds”.
“I’ve done it since I was a young kid so it’s all I really know,” he says.
He adds that many of his customers are elderly and do not have connections over the festive period.
“Christmas for majority of us is probably going to be a joyful and busy day but for some people it’s probably going to be a quiet day,” he says.
After posting about the plans to donate on social media he received a lot of publicity and Mr Khaira is prepared to “probably do more than” 100 meals.
He says the shop has already organised a toy and present drop off to Southampton hospitals this December, with many of the donations coming from customers.
He says: “We’re only where we are as a busy shop because of our community and our lovely customers that come in and sometimes you’ve got to give back and I’m happy to do that.”
Looking back on some of the negative news reported in Shirley earlier this year with the rise in anti-social behaviour in the area, he admits he had suffered.
His shop window was smashed in the summer, but he says: “Christmas time lets us just try and forget that for a minute and just try and have a good time, and reflect back on the year and hopefully next year is going to be a better one.”
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