However, his sales has been heavily disrupted in recent months due to the erection of scaffolding around his pitch in Trinity Street. “It’s very quiet at the minute because they’ve got scaffolding up on my pitch. It is what it is, I’m just trying to do whatever I can. I’ve let the workmen know I was here before them so they need to hurry up!”
“I don’t drink and do drugs now. I’ve been clean for three years. I had a habit for 10 years. But I never robbed, I never thieved. That’s why my people believe in me because I am out there every day. Of course, it spurs me on. It gives me something to get up for in the morning.”
“Without Big Issue, though, I would be a wee bit lost. They have helped me a lot. They’ve got me a cooker, a washing machine, a freezer, a double bed, my blinds. The council flat came unfurnished and it’s a real problem. If I hadn’t have had the help from Big Issue then I would have been in trouble. They’ve also believed me. I don’t take people for granted.”
Eamonn Kelly sells the Big Issue on Trinity Street. You can read more of his story in this week’s Big Issue, which you can buy from him on his pitch, or subscribe through the Big Issue website, where you can select a local vendor to receive 50% of your subscription fee.