The Sinking of the Ark

 

Photo: Wikicommons

Despite providing a vital service to Edinburgh’s homeless, the Ark Cafe was forced to close this summer after its annual funding was stopped by the council. The Skinny asked those affected what the future holds…

Over the cacophony created by many people talking in a large uncarpeted room, Bruce Wiseman hands over a bacon roll with a bit of friendly banter. Up to the day I meet him, he had been volunteering at the Ark Café, working from 7am to 12pm, cooking food. Handsome and clean-shaven, neatly dressed and eloquent, he is not your stereotypical notion of a homeless person.

Wiseman is one of the 110 people who depended on the facilities provided by the Ark Trust canteen, which operated to support the homeless and those threatened by homelessness. But these desperately needed services are no longer available after Edinburgh Council withdrew the funding it granted to the Trust at the end of June.

“Before I started volunteering here, I was just a service user. I came in here to get out, have a coffee and a chat. Since I started here, I’ve got my confidence and self-worth back, I’ve got my get-up-and-go back.” Wiseman then confides: “When this place goes I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

For 70 years the Ark Café on New Street provided cheap food, clothes, toiletries, telephone and fax facilities, and housing advice to those on the front lines of homelessness.

All these resources have disappeared since the council withdrew the £167,000 funding the Ark receives per year.

Top Ten Late Night Spots

 

Henry’s Cellar Bar

8 Morrison St

One of the city’s few low-hire-cost venues, Henry’s attracts ‘rough around the edges’ shit you wouldn’t see in more conventional haunts. The stage is a small square wedged into the back corner with two pillars dividing the floor. One pillar stands on the outside corner of the stage, obstructing the view of at least one person in any band with more than three members. Strangely, that’s what’s good about Henry’s. Not only does it have diverse gigs and clubs, a modest door charge and decent drink prices, it’s got that community vibe where you can talk to strangers without feeling creepy or getting your head kicked in.