'Our charity shop has been plagued by shoplifting'

"If you are stealing off the shop, you are stealing from one of us."

The Mesopotamia charity shop in Nottingham Road, Basford, Nottingham, has been being "plagued" by shoplifting, fly-tipping and inappropriate donations.

Now the shop will close in March and go online, said Richard Newbold, who has worked there for four years.

The charity's foodbank, which supports up to 400 people a week, has relocated to Bulwell in the city.

Richard said the final straw was being told the shop's rent to a private landlord was to increase by thousands of pounds a year.

He said: "If you are paying more in rent than you are making for charity, what is the point of being a charity?"

Mesopotamia was set up in 2015 with the aim of relieving hardship and poverty. The charity has since worked in France, Greece and Turkey.

The Basford branch has a new office to continue the charity's work.

Richard, who is the charity's warehouse manager, said: "We are going to try and make it work online, rather than have a physical shop, because that is the problem.

"We are just tired of it, tired of the shoplifting, of the fly-tipping, the constant people bringing donations they can't be bothered to go to the tip with - it costs us money to get rid of that.

"It gets you down, it affects your mental health."

The charity has gone so far as to post appeals and CCTV stills of offenders on its social media.

Some of its goods, such as furniture, come from the NHS and universities, so these will continue to be sold online.

Organisers also hope a renewed focus on grants and other funding sources will make up for lost income from the shop.

Richard said the decision had only come after a lot thought.

"We are like a family, us and the volunteers, and we take it personally," he added.

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