TAVISTOCK’S Big Issue distributor has been described as the town’s very own ‘social worker’ with queues of people always waiting to talk to him.

Neil has stood outside a shop on Brook Street almost every day for the past two years, in all weathers, and is always seen in mid-conversation with a member of the public.

Ready with a friendly smile, Neil has won over the hearts and minds of the local public and visitors whilst selling the Big Issue magazine, which exists to offer homeless people or individuals at risk of homelessness the opportunity to earn a legitimate income.

When Neil began his career in 2018 with the Big Issue he was offered Tavistock as a location to sell the magazines as ‘no one else wanted to travel that far from Plymouth’.

Neil agreed and has never looked back.

From his days renting a two-bed property in Ivybridge to losing his home after accruing tax bills he couldn’t afford and court summons costs for tax arrears, Neil speaks openly about his experience of becoming homeless and his trials experienced along the way.

Jo Wright, a Tavistock street pastor, said Neil’s honest conversations and kind heart had people queuing to talk to him: ‘When we (street pastors) go out on our Friday lunchtime patrols, we joke that we can’t talk to him as there are queues of people waiting to talk to him — he is like a social worker. Neil is a brilliant listener and people want to talk to him and share things happening in their life.’

Neil added: ‘I genuinely care for people and I do worry about them. I check in with them and I always ask how they are. Then when I lost my mum just before Christmas last year, people showed me support which felt nice as I was in real shock. People I had not even met before were saying they were sorry about my mum. I then didn’t feel so isolated.’

Neil, originally from London, said that even though he was without a home he felt fortunate as he was not ‘rough sleeping’.

‘I am homeless but not rough sleeping as I stay on a sofa with friends.

‘When I was given two weeks to get out of my home I had nowhere else to go — I had to walk away from my home, my life and my son who would come down from Exeter to stay with me, but with nowhere to live he could not come and visit.

‘I got depressed and I was constantly searching for a job. I then thought about the Big Issue. I was asked if I fancied covering Tavistock and I decided to give it a go.’

Neil has built up such a rapport with people, that one day someone asked him for his foot size and said they would knit him a pair of socks.

‘Eight weeks later the woman gave me a pair of purple, yellow and green glitter socks. You know you have made it when people knit you socks.’