“My customers have been very good to me”: Big Issue vendor Tony Flynn returns to work after triple heart bypass

A Barnstaple Big Issue vendor has returned to his pitch of nine years after heart surgery left him unsure whether he’d be able to continue selling the magazine.

Tony Flynn, who has sold the Big Issue outside Marks & Spencer in Barnstaple since 2016, stepped away from his pitch earlier in the year after undergoing triple bypass surgery in May.

“They admitted me straight away with severely blocked arteries and I had a bit of a bad turn one night,” Flynn tells this week’s Big Issue, which is on sale now. “I think I skipped a queue because you wait in a queue for your operation.

“It’s been three months now but I still get very tired and my body’s still very numb. The thing is I was indoors from April when it happened and I only came back about a month ago.”

Given the severity of his surgery, Flynn is only selling for a few hours at a time on a Friday, but his regular customers have been delighted by his return.

“My customers have been very good to me. If you do a pitch for nine years, which I did, you just know everybody. My regulars, they come out on a Friday because they know that’s my slot for the week. They’ve all wanted to know how I was and how I was coping so we’ve let them all know what’s transpired.

“I do enjoy selling. A lot of people stop and talk, so it’s just to get out and talk. I’ve still got the tabard on and I’m holding the magazine and doing publicity for the magazine. I think I needed that stimulation.”

Like all Big Issue vendors, Flynn buys each of his magazines for £2 and sells it for £4, keeping the profit. The Big Issue provides an earning opportunity for thousands of vendors across the UK every year.

After scaling down his hours selling, Flynn is now sharing his pitch with another vendor. He’s unsure whether he’ll ever return to selling like he did before his operation.

“I don’t know if I’ll come back to selling the magazine full-time,” he admits this week’s Big Issue. “I don’t think standing is very good for my condition – I’ve got to get the heart working. But people say: ‘Oh you must get a chair.’ But I’ve never sat down when I sold the magazine. I always stood. I would feel awkward sitting down.”

Tony Flynn sells the Big Issue outside M&S Barnstaple on Fridays between 10 and 11am, and 3.30 and 5pm. Read more about his journey back to selling in this week’s edition of the magazine, on sale now.