A charity set up to help refugees who arrive in Bristol with nothing is appealing for help to find new, bigger, premises, because the need for the service is ‘greater than ever’.

Aid Box Community supported just under 5,000 displaced and vulnerable people last year, who have arrived in Bristol with nothing, aren’t allowed to work and receive just a few pounds a week for food.

The Bristol-based charity, which has been running since 2015, was at the forefront of the city's response to the influx of refugees from Ukraine in 2022. It provides a free shop, befriending and activities and a crisis fund from its base on Cheltenham Road in Montpelier. But a planned move to bigger premises has fallen through, and now the charity say they are desperately looking for a fit-for-purpose new premises with additional space.

Read next: Refugee charity 'amazed and overwhelmed' as Bristol raises almost £25,000 in just a month to save it

Read more: Urgent appeal to help more than 300 Ukrainian refugees arriving in Bristol

As well as fundraising initiatives from people across the city, Aid Box Community has secured funding to keep going from lotteries and other trusts, and now founder and director Imogen McIntosh said the time is right to expand. The charity will give up its lease on its base in Cheltenham Road on July 1, but the new site nearby has unexpectedly fallen through.

“The need for our service is greater than ever,” said Imogen. “We are responding to more and more people every day and there is no sign of this slowing down.

“There have been times when people have had to queue outside and, as our service has evolved, we now need more physical space so people can connect and help our team work in a more suitable environment,” she added.

Aid Box Community in Bristol

The charity is appealing for help from people across Bristol to find them a suitable premises to move to. It needs to be for a minimum of three years, and a site with at least 3,000 square feet. The charity has a budget of £45,000 a year for the lease, and is looking for somewhere as central as possible, but outside the Clean Air Zone, near a bus route and preferably north of the city centre.

Aid Box Community began as a response from Bristolians to the migrant crisis and the gathering of people in horrendous conditions in Calais - for the first year or so, the mission was to gather and deliver boxes of aid to the men, women and children in ‘the Jungle’ on the French coast.

That switched to supporting refugees who arrive in Bristol with nothing. “We are a truly Bristol charity, made from the love, time and financial contributions of the people who live here,” said Imogen. “We really urge members of the community, businesses, and landlords to come forward with leads for consideration so we can move on to the next stage of our journey.”

“ABC is a community-driven effort and thousands of Bristolians have volunteered time, donated aid and funds to keep the charity operational, spreading what they call ‘Bristol Love’ to some of the world’s most vulnerable people,” a charity spokesperson said.