Ealing Broadway is hosting a free school uniform shop this weekend to help families get essential items ahead of the new school year.

The shopping centre is inviting people to donate good quality non-branded school clothing and sportswear until Saturday 29th July at a dedicated donation box located outside Tesco Express.

On Sunday 30th July, from 10am – 4pm, visitors will be able to browse the donations and take up to four items to help prepare their children for going back to school. 

Across the same weekend, Ealing Broadway's popular free Clothes Swap will be running for the third time this year, providing locals with a sustainable way to recycle other old or unwanted clothes in return for new items.

Locals are able to donate a range of pre-loved clothes at the pop-up shop next to Flying Tiger on Saturday 29 July.

In return they will receive a maximum of five tokens to spend on other items on Sunday 30 July, enabling them to update their wardrobes sustainably.

The initiative is run in partnership with Love Not Landfill and has already seen nearly 2,000 items donated including tops, jumpers, dresses, and jackets, with 1,600 pieces swapped by the local community at the previous events.

Ealing Repair Café, a local volunteer group, will also be on hand at the centre on Saturday 29th July to teach people simple skills to repair and upcycle clothing items rather than discarding them.

Timings are as follows:

• ·      Tuesday 18th – Saturday 29th July: Drop off pre-loved school uniform and sportswear items at the donation box outside Tesco Express
• ·      Saturday 29th July from 10.00am – 4.00pm: Drop off general clothing outside Flying Tiger and receive tokens
• ·      Sunday 30th July from 10.00am – 4.00pm: Visitors can pick up the school unform items outside Tesco Express and cash in their tokens for the general clothing outside Flying Tiger

Andrew Rollings, centre director at Ealing Broadway, said: "The response we've had to the Clothes Swap has been incredible. It's brilliant to see so many people donating pre-loved items and wanting to browse for something new, so much so that it inspired us to also host the uniform donation point and shop this time around – which we've already received a fantastic number of donations for.

"We also know people's contributions go a long way to help those in need, and this will be more important than ever during the back-to-school season."