Digbeth pub registering homeless people to vote

The Old Crown in Digbeth has offered up their address to homeless people in Birmingham to use as their place of residence so that they are able to vote in the upcoming election.

The general public is only able to register to vote if they have a fixed address, however, there are exceptions made for homeless people if they are able to state a place of residence where they are residing temporarily. This could be anywhere from a hospital to a hostel or prison, as long as it is allowed by the owner or management. Therefore, the pub has offered homeless people across Birmingham to use The Old Crown as an address for their residence, which will mean they can register to vote in the election on the 12th of December.

We spoke to The Old Crown who told The Birmingham Tab: "We decided to do it as we had seen it done in Bristol and a few of our customers had messaged the page asking if we would do it. Some of our customers said they work in town and were happy to get people’s details and given them to us so we thought we should run with the idea."

When asked why making this option available to homeless people in the area was important to them, the team at The Old Crown said: "It is important to us to allow everyone the right to vote, especially in a vote that is so important. We wish we had done it sooner!"

Lily Moonbeam, one of the customers who is helping to collect the details of homeless people around the city, posted on Facebook "The wonderful people at The Old Crown pub have said that they are happy to let homeless people use their address in order for them to be able to vote."