BOURNEMOUTH will join London and San Francisco this week in launching a way to help homeless people without giving cash.

Crack+Cider is an online shop for people to buy essential items for use by the homeless.

A launch event, open to the public, will be held on Thursday, January 18, 6pm, at the coffee shop South Coast Roast on Richmond Hill.

Crack+Cider was started by Londoners Scarlett Montanaro and Charlotte Cramer, who were angry about council posters warning people not to give money to the homeless.

Its name was inspired by a homeless man who told the founders: “People don’t give me money because they just think I’ll spend it on crack and cider.”

South Coast Roast will host a Crack+Cider ‘pop-up’ shop from 6-9pm on Thursday, offering the opportunity to buy the very first items from the Bournemouth Crack+Cider store. Places are free but should be booked.

Stephen Robertson, chief executive of the Big Issue Foundation, will speak at the event, which will include an evening of education around the issue of homelessness.

The dedicated Bournemouth online store will offer a range of essential items for the homeless and newly housed in supported living.

The general public can choose items and the Bournemouth team will manage distribution, ensuring every item reaches the people who need it, in partnership with Bournemouth council, St Mungos and Hope For Food –the volunteer run soup kitchen set-up by Claire Matthews.

News that Crack+Cider would be coming to Bournemouth was revealed at last year’s Silicon Beach conference in the town.

Scarlett Montanaro told how she and her co-founder, who both work in advertising, had come up with the idea after saying no to a beggar in Berlin.

“Our idea was that we were going to have a really simple and different way for people to give money that didn’t involve handing over cash," she said.

The idea was brought to Bournemouth after two people in the creative and digital sector – Fleurie Forbes-Martin of Salad Creative and Mati Kettell of Bare Collective – contacted Ms Montanaro.

Free places at Thursday's event can be booked by visiting Eventbrite.co.uk and searching for “Crack+Cider Bournemouth launch”.