Alfie Brew, Co-op Food, Cowick St, St Thomas, Exeter

I’ve not long returned to selling the magazine. A car knocked me off my bike and I had to have three months off Big Issue. I had a fractured knee and a torn ligament in my leg. My recovery has been up and down. I have bipolar so I’m trying to keep my head and focus on one thing at the minute, and go forward from there. I can walk now, thankfully. 

I had to just lend money off people while I was off my pitch. I had help from Sue in the Big Issue office in Plymouth who sorted me out with food vouchers. The vouchers helped me a lot. If it wasn’t for Big Issue I’d be stuck. But I lost a lot of income, you know? That’s why I’m doing early mornings, six days a week, to try and get it all back up again. 

I’m the only person that sells Big Issue at St Thomas so when I had the accident with my bike and had to take three months off, they thought I’d quit. I came back last week and I’m slowly getting my name back around to say that I’m back again. Everyone’s missed me, they haven’t seen me. I’m really trying to get myself out there now. 

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I’ve been selling the magazine for about four years now. I love it because it helps me with my bipolar and it gets me out there. It stops things messing up. I’ve got myself a flat now, I first went indoors a couple of Christmases ago. I’ve now been in my permanent flat for just under a year. It’s very nice. I can have my dogs there so that’s a good thing for me, and my partner is with me as well. 

I’ve got four dogs: two lurchers, a Jack Russell and my partner’s got a chihuahua. They’re called Wrinkles, China, Bambi and Fudge. Bambi comes to my pitch with me at the minute. She featured in Big Issue when we were asking people to support their vendor. Everyone loves Bambi down here. Every day I don’t have her with me, they are like: “Where’s your dog gone?” 

I’m trying to get my hobby back up and running. I like going fishing. It’s peaceful, it’s quiet and it’s like meditation. You can just sit there without anyone moaning at you. When I used to be back at home and used to go fishing there, I used to catch big carp and big pike but I’m going for salmon and trout this time. You can take them home and eat them. I can cook trout perfectly. I cook it with herbs and a bit of salt and pepper. A bit of seasoning on top. All sorts really. 

I’m originally from London. I wanted a new start in life. I’d been in and out of prison all my life, been in trouble all my life. I was in the care system. I’ve always told myself that I wanted a fresh start and I had the opportunity to come to Exeter. I snatched at that opportunity. I’ve been in Exeter just under six years and I like it a lot here. It’s the countryside I like and it’s better than home because I had a lot of problems there. Here I can walk down the road and I don’t have to look over my shoulder all the time. I can just walk down and I don’t have any problems with anyone. 

I used to beg on the streets here and Big Issue came along and said: do you want to have a chance at that? I snatched at that opportunity as well and I’ve been on Big Issue ever since.   

Interview: Liam Geraghty

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Co-op Food - Cowick Street, Cowick Street, Saint Thomas, Exeter, UK