‘Group is a lifesaver’: strangers buy Wetherspoon’s meals for homeless people through app

WhatsApp group has bought tens of thousands of meals for people via Facebook page

Carl used to own pubs - several of them - and a string of hotels. Then two years ago, rising costs forced him into bankruptcy. Now he sleeps on the beach in summer, and in winter sits in an all-night McDonald's nursing a single cup of coffee.

Carl's daughters are in a different part of the country with his ex-wife. To maintain the illusion that he lives a normal life, Carl is careful only to video-call them from the local Wetherspoon's with a meal and a drink carefully positioned in shot. That way, he reasons, he looks like a man with somewhere to be.