Wetherspoons app crashes during homeless fundraiser

Wetherspoons The Game came to Bristol last night (Monday 1 July) and the team sat down to a table in the V-Shed on Harborside to collect 300 meals for Bristol’s homeless. Within half an hour, the app crashed as fans poured in to donate and show their support for the cause.

The Wetherspoons game was launched by Chris Illman in 2018 on Facebook, where members post food and drink requests to be ordered at their table by others. Members simply need to tell the group which Wetherspoons pub they are in and their table number.

Chris uses the platform to travel around the UK helping to feed the homeless population. This year, it was in Birmingham, Liverpool, Norwich, Bournemouth and Belfast.

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A burger, chips and soft drink from Wetherspoons in the V-Shed costs £5.36. Chris’ target was to reach 300 burger tables, but this was soon surpassed.

At 6pm, Chris went live on his Facebook page, which has over 700,000 members, to kick off the event. Chris is a well-known figure online and one fan rushed to meet him with a pile of snacks he had bought from the bar to help raise funds.

After two minutes, 20 burgers have already been bought for the table. Twenty minutes later, 170 burger tables were up and half an hour later, the Wetherspoons app had crashed.

Because of the backlog of orders after the crash, Chris wasn’t sure when the 300-table goal was reached, but he was sure it was exceeded by about 100 orders. A total of 1,000 snacks were also donated to accompany the burger meals.

Four charities came to the V-Shed to collect the meals that had been donated: Blonde Angel, Bosh, Bristol Soup Run and Help Bristol’s Homeless. These were divided among themselves according to demand.

Lee O’Hair, Shaun Honeyghan, Matt Honeyghan and Natalie Smyth are friends of Chris and attended the event to help out, all wearing Wetherspoons The Game shirts. After the four charities collected the meals they needed, some of the team took to the streets of Bristol city center to hand out meals to the homeless people they met.

“Me, Shaun and Matt joined up and started giving food to other people and attended the charity event in Birmingham, where we’re from. We’re not well, but we all have full-time jobs, so that’s nice. to give something back,” said Lee O’Hair.

“We love what it stands for and what it’s about. You never know what life is going to throw at you and if you were in that position, you like to think that someone would do the same thing to help you.”

UWE students Lauren Harper, Miah Brook and Becca Hullah met the group the day before the event and were invited to join in on the action.

“It’s something I really care about. If someone gives you an opportunity to help, you have to take it,” said Lauren Harper.

The team’s travel and accommodation to Bristol was paid for by BillyChip, a Bristol-based charity which allows people to buy a poker-style chip for £2 to give to the homeless. These can be spent in a number of shops such as Greggs.

Jack Gascoigne, Director of Communications at BillyChip, said: “BillyChip is proud to support this innovative project, helping to feed Bristol’s homeless through our city’s amazing outreach services. The BillyChip is a safe and secure coin that the public can buy for £2 each. from many outlets in Bristol city center to donate to rough sleepers if they feel hesitant or unable to give cash.

“BillyChips are being redeemed across the city by homeless people for takeaway food and drink – all profits from running the BillyChip go to our foundation to fund other projects that support homelessness, such as The Wetherspoon Game’s Homeless Feed monthly”.

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