Interest rate rises are causing more people to resort to food banks and people are ‘scared’ about what it will be like when their fixed-rate mortgages end.

The impact of the rate rises is only now being felt nearly two months after the changes came into place.

At the Angel Trust Community Pantry in Bishop Auckland, volunteers and workers have noticed a significant increase in the number of people coming each week.

A number of people have described how worried they are about coming off fixed-rate mortgages soon.

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Clair McGregor, CEO of the Angel Trust, said: “The number of people coming is rising every week.

“It’s just steadily increasing. A lot of the people coming in are pensioners and we get young families with very young children too.

“With the increased demand we are looking to expand into the nearby pub. It’s all becoming bigger than we ever thought it would.

“We get a good number of 18–20-year-olds who for whatever reason are living on their own.

“They only get a small amount of benefits and it just doesn’t cover the rising cost of food.

“The queues we are seeing are huge at the moment and it’s getting harder to get food from the supermarkets.

“We are getting much less donations. If we used to get four shopping trolleys full a week we now only get half of one.

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“I have had a lot of people say they are scared for this year ahead.

“They are coming off fixed-rate mortgages, even some members of staff have said how worried they are.

“Friends have said that they are scared of what it is going to be like.”

As the Angel Trust is hoping to expand into The Beehive they are looking to get support from the community during the move.

Any local craftsmen are urged to get in touch, you can find contact details here.