Stuart Drucker, Roath Market (Saturdays) and Riverside Market (Sundays), Cardiff

Image: Exposure Photo Agency 

I don’t just sell the magazine. I work in the Big Issue office on Mondays doing subscriptions because the one who was doing it before me, Mark, is too ill to work. I enjoy it because I get to speak to and see the rest of the staff. I’ve been doing it for a while now so I know everyone.

It is good to see the other side of things because I want to help people. I love helping vendors. They come and say something like, “I can’t afford my gas” and I say, “Listen, whatever you want, just ask.” 

I think the Big Issue does a lot more than you think. I’ve been on both sides so I can put my point of view across to the office from the eyes of a vendor. So it’s a bit different.

I’ve just started another thing too. I’ll have a sticker with a QR code on me for my customers to scan and they’ll be able to find out a bit more about me, and it goes to the Big Issue Shop too. I’ll be the first vendor in Wales to have it. I think it’s brilliant.

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On a Thursday I do a thing called Invisible Cities, who do tours of cities from people who have been homeless. It’s a six-week course and I thoroughly enjoy that because I love history. I usually suffer with anxiety but I’m fine on a Thursday because I look forward to it. I’m more inclined to do the castle and the hidden canals and gardens of Cardiff if I was to do the tour here. We know the hidden dark things about Cardiff, that’s the thing.

I was homeless in Cardiff a long time ago when I first started selling the Big Issue and then I got into hostels and moved away. I came back because I knew it was safe in Cardiff for the homeless, you know you’ll never starve. I got into rehab because I was using heroin – I was using all the drugs – and I was a drinker. It was called the Bridge Programme, run by The Salvation Army. I was there for about a year and a half and I got clean. It’s up to you to get clean and you’ve got to mentally go, I have had enough. I was making excuses not to see my kids and I couldn’t do it any more. I’ve been clean ever since – 10 years.

So my kids can rely on me now. I just found out my daughter’s pregnant with my first grandchild. I can’t wait! They’re due in March. I’ve got two kids myself – a little boy and an adult girl – but, in my eyes, I’ve got three stepkids as well and they still keep in touch. 

I do well at the farmers’ markets. The people on my pitch are more friends than customers. I sell the Big Issue at the farmers’ markets but I also help my friend who’s Polish with his fruit and veg stall and helping load up and stuff like that. He’s as good as gold for me because I can have anything off his board for nothing.

In the future I want to get a new place, too, because I’m in shared accommodation. I’ve been here for three years but I want to get a flat or something so I can have my grandchild overnight because I don’t trust this place. I can’t afford to get my own place. My rent went up about a year ago because my housing benefit doesn’t catch up all the time. I had to try and find an extra £125 a month out of my own money, which was hard.

I would be dead if I didn’t have Big Issue. They’ve helped me so much and they’ve always been there, even when I was working in Asda for three years, even when I needed help or I needed someone to talk to, I could always rely on Big Issue.

Words: Liam Geraghty

Roath Farmers Market, Keppoch Street, Cardiff, UK