Artisan bakery Gail’s on Seymour Place now donates surplus food to local charity, The Marylebone Project, the largest single women’s shelter in the country. The charity has 112 beds for homeless women and runs essential services through a drop-in day centre service. The charity supports its service users to return to independent living through providing education, employment support and training opportunities.

The Marble Arch Street Team are supporting Gail’s Seymour Place with their local community efforts by transporting their unused bread, pastries and cakes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In the UK we throw away 24 million slices of bread per day on average, and 10.2m tonnes of food waste each year, creating more than 20m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

To reduce food waste, Gail’s donates surplus food to more than 40 charities, which collect bread and pastries that would otherwise go to waste at the end of the day. Gail’s have also created their own unique ‘Waste Not Menu’. They launched their Waste-less Sourdough, made from unsold bread, two years ago and are always looking at new ways to reduce their waste, from using yesterday’s Pains au Chocolat for their Chocolate and Almond Croissant to creating Cheese Crackers from leftover cheese ends.

A huge thank you to Gail’s Seymour Place and our Street Team for all their efforts. You can find out more about Gail’s ‘Waste Not’ initiative here.

Explore more stories here about our Community Programme and local volunteering opportunities.