A local charity has said that homeless people in the north of England are ‘being forced’ to choose between keeping their pets and finding warm shelter.
Street Paws has said that ‘enough is enough’ and that more hostels should be pet-friendly, reports The Hoot.
Research shows that less than 10% of hostels currently welcome pets, forcing people to have to choose between sleeping rough or leaving their dogs.
It’s also been reported that less than 7% of pet owners would give up their dog in exchange for housing.
The charity provides veterinary care to homeless dogs in the north of England.
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Credit: Street Paws
Figures from Crisis released earlier this year estimate that 200,000 experienced ‘core homelessness’ in 2020 – and that 1 in 10 people experiencing homelessness also has a pet.
Street Paws shared the story of a man they helped called Dave* and his pet dog Lola. According to Street Paws, Dave suffers from psychosis and has complex needs.
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This, alongside previous experiences of being systematically abused and threatened by members of the community, means that he often sees things as a potential threat.
So when he joined a scheme and attempted to settle Lola into a kennel, he became convinced others had access to it and she was being harmed.
Both Dave and Lola struggled with separation anxiety, having developed a very close bond over the years. This, combined with cold weather, fireworks, and an “abundance of sneaky cats” lead to “a few difficulties” – and as a result, Dave spent a number of nights in the kennel and some back on the streets rather than leave Lola on her own.
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Credit: Unsplash
Ultimately, this lead to a decline in his mental health, sleeping pattern, and personal hygiene. Lola would also often shake and resist when Dave tried to return to the scheme, said Street Paws.
The charity works with hostels to help them become more pet-friendly and says that the main reasons given for not accepting the pets of vulnerable people include a lack of staff knowledge and training; ‘No Pet’ Clauses in hostel lease agreements; and a lack of pet-friendly permanent housing to ‘move on’, leading to longer stays for residents.
Now, in partnership with the south of England’s Dogs on the Streets charity, Street Paws has launched a campaign for more hostels to become ‘Dog Champions’.
The scheme offers hostel staff accredited training and support, plus advice on pet policies, owner agreements, a pet essential welcome pack for residents, full veterinary care, Street Paws patient registration, canine first aid training, and a first aid kit.
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Street Paws founder Michelle Southern said: “The nights are getting darker and colder, and it is essential that as many people make it to a shelter as possible, and we believe that skilling up hostels and helping them to become pet friendly is a giant stepping stone.”
Featured image: Street Paws
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Daisy Jackson -
22nd November 2021 
