A Wellington refuge is seeing extraordinary demand amidst an 'economic crisis'.

The weekly Wellington Warm Refuge is hosted at the Wellington Baptist Church on South Street every Thursday. Baptist minister Reverend Sam Griffiths oversees the volunteer led initiative.

The Wellington Warm Refuge offers a warm place to stay, hot food, and a social occasion to any and all who seek it out.

Sam told the Wellington Weekly News about the refuge's work. He said: "We set this up based on the economic and utility crisis. Before Christmas we saw extraordinarily large numbers, averaging 20, maybe 25 around mealtime.

"Numbers dropped in January, but then all of a sudden you've seen an extraordinary jump forward in numbers."

Sam said that the Warm Refuge is primarily sponsored by Wellington Town Council. In addition to "very generous" donors and a team of volunteers, it is enough to keep the wheels tuning. But he said if they had more, they could do more.

"We're always in need of funds. We've made some decisions this week. Exhaustion of the teams is a factor."

As the British Standard Time zone comes into affect, the Warm Refuge will scale back its opening hours to between 11.30am and 2pm.

Sam explained the Warm Refuge attracted a diverse crowd. He said: "We never ask or means-test. We have an extraordinary number of people here today, those in significant financial need, those who struggle to heat their homes - let alone buy or cook food.

"Then we have people who just like being with others rather than being home alone having no one to talk to. Then there are people who don't fit either of those categories and want to be part of the community feel."

In addition to the hot food on offer, a number of board games, craft activities and even a Nintendo Wii were made available to visitors.

Sam said the Warm Refuge was not an evangelical project. He said: "We are a Christian church but as a team we have volunteers from all church and faith settings. We're not set up here as an evangelist outreach, we're here to support and give care."

The refuge is open at the Wellington Baptist Church on Thursdays from 9.30am until 7pm on Thursdays.