City chippy chips in to help Coventry's homeless

The owners of a family-run fish and chip shop say their religion and belief in giving back to their community has led them to donate more than 1,000 free meals to those in need.

Natassa Trattou runs the Marina Fish Bar in Willenhall, Coventry, with her husband Melios and took it over from her parents last April.

They are both Greek Orthodox and wanted to give back to people in the area, but said none of the homeless shelters they contacted took up their offer.

However, the local Pride in Willenhall group put them in touch with St John the Divine Church and they now make 40 food packages a month, which the church then delivers to those in need at the New Leaf hostel.

Natassa Trattou said: "We took the business over in April last year and made a promise to ourselves that we didn't just want to run a fish and chip shop, we wanted to serve our community in every way we can."

The 31-year-old and her husband started donating last year, with the pair amassing 1,000 meals for four local primary schools over Christmas.

That work is continuing through the relationship with the church which last year made food parcels for local children during the summer holidays, following funding from a Church of England scheme.

And for connecting the parties, Trattou said she was grateful to Pride in Willenhall.

"[They] have just been so supportive of us, especially since we've started the donations. They'll always share our posts and they keep the community seeing what we're doing," she said.

The donations, however, don't come without an effect on business.

"Our stock [cost] is incredibly high in fish prices due to reducing fishing quotas and how much cod can be caught in the UK. Our suppliers increase their prices week in, week out, but as a small business, we can't increase ours, so we absorb it.

"[But] like I said, we just want to do something kind."

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