A BIG-HEARTED chef in Christchurch is cooking up meals for the homeless each week using left over ingredients.

For the past seven months, Pete Roberts, 48, who has been head chef at The Thomas Tripp pub in Wick Lane for the past two years, has been making meals for homeless and vulnerable people in Christchurch town centre.

Pete, who lives in Christchurch, said the idea occurred to him last summer when the pub was particularly busy and they had food left over.

He then made contact with the Christchurch Soup Kitchen to find out what he could do to help and has been making meals for needy people in the town centre ever since.

Some of the meals Pete has been making include roast chicken with roast potatoes, chilli, spaghetti bolognaise and roast pork stroganoff.

Pete said two pupils at Highcliffe School who are doing their Duke of Edinburgh award have also been helping out along with fresh produce supplier Chefs Mate in in Airspeed Road as well as a local butcher.

He said: "There is a rough sleeper situation in Christchurch so I wanted to see how I could help."

He said that he used to give rough sleepers money or buy them a coffee but felt that he wanted to do more to help them.

Pete serves up the food in between 6pm and 7pm each Thursday in Saxon Square car park where the soup kitchen takes place.

He said: "You see people in the street that come to the soup kitchen and they are polite and say hello but it's sad."

Recently, The Thomas Tripp posted a picture of Pete to let everyone know about his kind act and the post has since had 1,700 likes and 400 shares.

Pete added: "The response from Facebook has just been overwhelming."