Free coffees given to NHS staff at Haywards Heath’s Princess Royal Hospital

A Lindfield resident has been giving away free coffee to NHS workers during the lockdown.
Sussex Coffee Trucks SUS-200505-165516001Sussex Coffee Trucks SUS-200505-165516001
Sussex Coffee Trucks SUS-200505-165516001

Daniel Pullen, who started mobile coffee business Sussex Coffee Trucks this year, was planning to sell coffee out of a yellow, vintage Citroen horse box at Ditchling Beacon Car Park.

When his business was shut at the start of the lockdown, he realised he could help boost morale at his local hospital with his coffee truck.

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With help and coffee beans from Kris at Lindfield Coffee Works, an online fundraiser, and the green light from management at the Princess Royal Hospital, he started serving drinks to NHS workers from the hospital car park.

He said: “They were extremely thankful. My friend Kris from Lindfield Coffee Works supplies me with coffee and I reached out to him with the idea and he was super excited by it.

“Kris very kindly offered to help out with coffee supply and even said he could do a few shifts too.

“I served over 1,000 drinks in the first week. Feedback was fantastic and everyone was so grateful.

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“It felt amazing to be able to lift spirits for these hardworking heroes.”

Following the success of the first week, in which he gave away 350 drinks on his first day, Daniel was given cakes to hand out with coffee by The Garden Chef and Round Table Cookery School, which he said were ‘gratefully received and went down a storm’.

Daniel is planning for this week to be the final week of the project, after giving out coffee four days a week throughout April and raising more than £2,300 – more than quadrupling his initial target of £500.

The project was as successful at the hospital as it was online – on his first day, his first customer was served at 10.30am and he had a queue until 4.20pm when he ran out of milk and coffee.

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Daniel said: “Everyone was delighted and morale had been visibly boosted. Such a great feeling and I felt incredibly proud to have made it happen, with a little help from my friends.”

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