Food banks launching in wealthy areas as pleas for help double in months

Wealthy parts of London are seeing the launch of food banks as the recession bites deeper.

Charities say they have seen a huge increase in demand across the city as people struggle to afford even basic ingredients in the wake of rising rents and falling incomes.

Next month a food bank is launching in Epping Forest, traditionally seen as a super-rich enclave that counts Rod Stewart, EastEnders actress Jessie

Wallace and The Apprentice judge Lord Sugar among its residents.

Demand at a Wimbledon food bank has doubled in the sixth months since it opened.

The food bank at Hammersmith and Fulham distributed parcels to 1,100 people in 2011, rising to 2,600 in the financial year to this April, and bosses there say this month’s figures show demand has doubled again.

Chris Mould, executive chairman of the Trussell Trust, which runs more than 40 food projects across London, said: “We are now operating in virtually every borough in London and we have seen a huge increase in the number of people who need help.

“It’s impossible to stereotype about the kind of people who need help. It’s not just the people you think about. A big problem is among people who are self-employed.

“On the outside, they may look well-off — they have a nice house, employees, a business that is doing well — but if they don’t get paid by their contractors, they can find life really hard.

‘One unpaid invoice and they are in trouble, and they can’t stop paying their mortgage or their workers or they will lose their business.

‘We have heard of people burning their furniture in their fireplace to stay warm over the winter, or moving their family into one room at night.”

Mr Mould said that last year more than 40,000 people across London were helped by the charity.

“The biggest problem facing London is rent,” he said.

“People are just priced out of ever buying their own home and they have seen rents rise as their incomes fall. It’s a very difficult situation.”

Daphine Aikens, who runs the Trussell Trust branch in Hammersmith and Fulham, said: “We have some people coming in who can’t remember the last time they ate.

“We distributed two tonnes of food in April.”