PopUP dinners for Hessle Roaders

09 April, 2024

Set up by Hull Delivery Co-op as part of their WANT (We Are Not Takeaway) project, PopUP offers hot meals to anyone who wants one. People are asked to ‘pay what you feel’ so no-one is excluded.

Chef Ruby Deverell cooks all the food and brings it to Rayners pub on Hessle Road every Tuesday afternoon; volunteers help to serve the steady stream of customers. Many of the pub’s regulars take advantage of the fantastic food on offer, but Ruby is also keen to get other people along. “We’d like to encourage people who really need a good meal but struggle to afford it to pop in,” she says.

“We always have one meat and one vegetarian or vegan option on offer and we’re giving out up to 65 meals every Tuesday, so there’s plenty for everyone. Most of the ingredients are surplus that’s been donated by supermarkets, allotments and local businesses and it’s a brilliant way to use up food that might otherwise go to waste.”

Volunteer Vaughn helps with serving, plating up dinners or packing them into tubs for people to take away to others who can’t get to the pub. “I got interested in food and cooking through the Giroscope Food Project and now I volunteer here and in a café,” he says. “I just love it.”

The PopUP starts at 2pm every Tuesday and there’s an entrance at the back for anyone who doesn’t want to go through the pub (although you might be tempted to join in with the bingo).

“We’d love to see this continue,” says Ruby. “We’re planning to get some ‘guest’ chefs in to mix things up a bit but it’s had such a great response, it’d be brilliant to keep it going. The funding from CHCP made it possible to get it off the ground so we just need a way to make it a permanent fixture.”