Breadline Voices: 'Demand for free food greater than during Covid peak'

Marcus Maughan, general manager of Food Bank Aid in Finchley, north London, says the cost of living crisis is having a greater impact on people's ability to feed themselves than the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic

"The cost of living is going up, fuel is going up, food is going up, I know there's been talk of people not buying things like potatoes cause they can’t afford the gas to cook them and that’s really key for us.

"We are busier now than when we were at the height of the pandemic. The cost of living crisis is having a bigger impact than Covid did.

Video courtesy of City Harvest London

"We’ve been operating for about two years. We moved here in October, before that, we tried to do all of this out of someone’s garage.

"Back then we were helping 15 foodbanks. They were helping about 8,500 people every week.

"At the moment, it’s closer to 11,000, creeping up to 11,500 quite often towards the end of the month when people have run out of money and I would say about a third of that is children."

• The content of this blog was created by City Harvest London as part of its City Speaks Up initiative, which aims to highlight the impact of food poverty and the cost of living crisis.

This is part of Breadline Voices, a series from The Food Foundation highlighting the realities faced by millions of families plunged into food and fuel poverty as food prices reach a 40-year high.