Ben's Centre for Vulnerable People (Sheffield)

ben’s centre has grown out of a desire within the city for day provision for street drinkers and a commitment from a small group of street drinkers to address the issues they face. in the early 90’s a group of street drinkers started meeting regularly as a self-help group to provide mutual support to each other. with the support of a number of individuals they were able to persuade the city council to provide premises for them on norfolk row. this became, in 1992, the base for hexagon, which provided day and counselling service to those in the city who had alcohol misuse problems including street drinkers. in 1994 the town hall saw a new recruit when pc ian sherman (“ben”) became the town hall bobby with responsibility for policing the peace gardens, which at the time, was a regular haunt of the city’s street drinkers. recognising the futility of locking the street drinkers up on a regular basis, ben’s approach was more tactful and ben built a positive working relationship with the str