WEYMOUTH fish and chip shop fans are helping the homeless through ‘random acts of kindness.’

For the last three years Fish ‘n’ Fritz fish and chip shop on Market Street in Weymouth has been offering a ‘suspended coffee’ scheme.

The initiative allows customers to come into the shop and pay for a coffee, tea or maybe even some food to help someone in need.

They pay for their items and they are ‘suspended’ and kept until someone in need comes in.

Owner Paul Hay heard about the scheme when he was volunteering with the homeless locally and thought it was a great idea.

He said: “The scheme is very simple. When you come in, if you want to pay for an additional coffee we note that down. Then if someone in need comes in and asks for a ‘suspended coffee’, we will check the balance and give them one from the customer’s ‘suspended’ account.”

Mr Hay added: “I have worked with the homeless and the charities supporting them for many years and this scheme is a really great extension of that. Just look at what has happened locally over the last few weeks, now more than ever it’s important that we look after everyone around us, especially someone who is less fortunate than ourselves.”

Mr Hay opened the fish and chip shop in 1997, in those 19 years the shop has won various awards.

They have recently been getting behind the Bus Shelter Dorset project, which is currently renovating a double decker bus to help rough sleepers in the area – it would be based in Weymouth.

The idea of a ‘suspended coffee’ scheme is believed to have begun in Naples, Italy. When someone had some luck they would buy a caffè sospeso, two coffees but only drink one, gifting the other to someone else.