West Sussex chippy goes viral on social media after giving away prepaid food to those in need at Christmas

Crispy Cod, in North Road, Lancing, has launched a successful donation drive – which is funded by themselves and random acts of kindness.

People who are hungry but low on funds can pick up a ticket at the shop to claim food, which has already been paid for.

A sign on the shop window reads: “If you are hungry and have no money, these meals have been paid for in advance. Give a server your ticket and they will have the kitchen prepare your meal.”

The business has gone viral on social media. The story was shared by blogger Simon Harris – also known as Man Behaving Dadly – in a post on X (formerly Twitter), which has been seen by nearly half a million people.

Sahin Saglam, who runs the shop with Hamit Ermis, said: “I’ve seen other places do it throughout the year and I wanted to see if it would work here. I uploaded a post on Facebook and it went viral.

“Customers can donate to prepay for the food. People struggling to make ends meet can use the ticket to get some food.

“People shouldn’t be out in the cold with a hungry stomach. We’re adding donations to it too. We’ve had people come in to say how grateful they are.

“I don’t want this to be a one-off, I want this to continue next year."

Crispy Cod’s post on Facebook added: “Let’s keep doing this until there’s no hungry homeless people in West Sussex.” Click here to make a donation.

This is not the first time the business has supported less fortunate people in the community.

In August, Sahin bought £100 worth of food from the local supermarket and left it on a table outside the restaurant, alongside a sign which read: ‘For people in need’.

"It's a very good community but people don't seem united,” Sahin said.

“We wanted to do something like this to help people out as everyone is struggling. We want to see if other businesses will get involved.

"It's something we could end up doing every week.

"I am a believer of if you give to people, God always gives it back to you in some way.

"That's the way I've been brought up, I've always given to people."