Edinburgh charity feeding homeless and in-need looks to open shop

Tim Fidelo runs The Breakfast Bothy

The Breakfast Bothy hands out breakfast rolls and hot drinks to the homeless and in-need.

A charity serving breakfast rolls and hot drinks to homeless people from a former police box in The Meadows is looking to create a shop.

Tim Fidelo has run The Breakfast Bothy on Melville Drive since September 2021, helping countless people in need. Launched by the owners of Carlowrie Castle, former chef Tim has been delighted with the project's success in the last two-and-a-half years.

A tight-knit community has been created around the bothy, with two men who met while picking up breakfast having launched a recording studio nearby.

Tim is now planning on taking the big next step by opening a charity shop in the spring. In preparation for the move, Tim is calling out for donations of books, clothes and other traditional charity shop items.

He told the Evening News: "I just thought it would be a good idea to raise awareness of the bothy. We're looking to find a premises, hopefully, in the Tollcross area so it'll be a nice busy thoroughfare there and we could spread the name.

"Also, crucially, it would provide funding for what we do, not just for the bothy but for the token scheme of course. We're just collecting donations just now, I just put one post up last Sunday, and by Tuesday afternoon I had already filled up half of the storage space I had.

"The donations have just been overwhelming. Some really kind, generous people around. We'll definitely be ready come spring-time. I've already seen a few premises nearby that would be perfect."

For three months, the bothy has been running a token scheme in partnership with city firms Bad Boy Barbers, Soul Cycles and Bendix Self Service Launderette.

"Someone can come to our site in The Meadows and pick up a token from me and they can go and get a haircut or a service wash at the launderette or bike repairs", Tim explained.

"We've arranged it with certain local businesses - we give out these tokens, they go and give the service and we pay the bill for it."

You can drop off items at the bothy between 9am and 1pm on weekdays.