The kind-hearted owners of a convenience store are set to put on a free Santa's grotto for families during the cost of living crisis.
Raj Narang, 36, and her husband Danny, 32, run Arlington Convenience Store on the Montagu Estate in Kenton, Newcastle. The couple will run a free Christmas event outside the shop on Wednesday for the local community.
The event, which will take place between 5pm and 7pm, will include a Santa and a Santa's Grotto, as well as hot refreshments for those who attend.
Raj said: "We have had an amazing reaction. We have had a lot of love for it, which is lovely. There's a great sense of community spirit and we want to nurture that.
"We are aware that, with the rising cost of living and being in an area of high unemployment and social deprivation, not everyone can afford to take their children to see Santa.
"There are people coming into the shop, topping up their gas and electric and coming back and putting money on again because it's not lasting. You see them in the shop buying the bare essentials, whereas they would normally be buying a bottle of wine.
"When you see the same people day in, day out, you can't help but start to care. It becomes more than a commercial enterprise.
"The entire event is funded by us personally and there's no cost for anyone attending. We wanted to do this as a little something for our community to give something back this year.
"The Santa we are using is the same Santa they use at Fenwick. I know he's absolutely out of this world. We are doing hot dogs and hot chocolate for the kids and mince pies and mulled wine for the adults."
Raj and Danny took over the shop, which operates under the Premier name, around two years ago. The couple previously put on a community event for the Queen's platinum jubilee in which they handed out Pimm's and scones and put on a small barbecue.
Raj said: "We haven't had the shop very long, we're quite a young couple and we're very eager. The couple who has it before had it for 30 years. It's always been a good business but it just needed a bit of love.
"When we held the Jubilee event we felt this real sense of proper community spirit. Danny was adamant about doing something for Christmas."
Makro in Washington has generously donated products to the store for the Christmas event. The business, which supplies their stock, provided a trolley of free food such as hot dogs and buns.
The store has already worked with grocery delivery app Snappy Shopper to provide a five-item, football final bundle for 1p for the World Cup final on Sunday.
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