St Joseph’s Hospice’s Christmas wish has come true, after a generous landlord stepped forward to donate a “pop-up shop” premises for the festive season.

Within two days of the hospice in Mare Street launching an appeal to find premises, the directors of the Hackney Joint Estate Charity stepped forward and offered a vacant shop in Well Street.

St Joseph’s holds jumble sales three times a year which bring in much needed income - but could generate so much more selling donated goods all-year-round.

Chief operating officer Tracey Carey told the Gazette: “We were thrilled.

“We rushed down there and set it up two days later.

“Fortunately it was in really good condition, so we have just put some of our own branding there and we were ready to go.

“Since it opened on Saturday it’s had a really good reception, and we are very grateful.

“There has been a rush of families coming in and buying winter coats, and we want to make sure everything is affordable.”

Volunteers are already helping to man the shop which is selling clothes, household goods and bricabrac, but St Joseph’s is now appealing for any more volunteers to come forward to make sure it is always staffed.

Irfan Malik, from the Hackney Joint Estate Charity which manages property to generate income for the borough’s parochial charities, said, “St Joseph’s Hospice is a local Hackney landmark and a very worthy charity, so the directors are happy to help to approve their use of the shop space for a few weeks at Christmas time.”

The shop is on loan for a few weeks, and the hospice is on the lookout for somewhere to go once their time is up.

“In an ideal world we have a taste for it now, and it’s been successful and generated some much needed revenue for the hospice so we’d love to see if anyone else would consider it, “ said Tracey.

It costs over £15m to run St Joseph’s Hospice annually, and £7m must come through charitable donations. It has been providing care to people in east London at the end of their lives or with life limiting conditions for 113 years, both within the hospice and in the community.

Anyone who can help should call the fundraising team on 020 8525 3200 or email fundraising@stjh.org.uk.