Arts factory that’s become a social network

The cost of living crisis is hitting home like never before. Thomas Kingsley visits a centre in Wales that helps keep the community together

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FOR 63-year-old Brian Preston, the cost of living crisis is unlike anything he's experienced. He lives alone in Wales where, because of soaring food and energy bills, he fears turning on his cooker. At home he eats only tinned food, cold sardines and beans, unable to afford to cook regular hot meals.

Mr Preston no longer has a washing machine and cleans his clothes in his bath and drip-dries them on a clothes horse. "We're going back to Victorian times," he said. "I can't afford to eat hot food. I can't afford to put the gas or electricity on. I'm eating cold beans, sardines. It's very rare I put my cooker on. It's got that bad."