Homeless Man Saves Dinner-Date by Lending His Shoes To A Stranger

A homeless man came to the rescue of a stranger who was turned away from a restaurant by lending him his new boots.

Akbar Badshah, from Bradford, was planning to sit down for dinner at Fazenda’s restaurant in Manchester when he was refused entry because he was wearing sandals. In an interview on BBC Radio Five Live, Mr. Badshah said he and his wife, Romzin, had driven “for an hour” to dine at the restaurant for her birthday but were refused because he wasn’t wearing closed-toe shoes. “The (staff) said, ‘unfortunately we have to turn you away – do you have any spare shoes.”

When he told them he did not, Mr. Badshah spotted a homeless man, John, nearby wearing a pair of boots. “We left the restaurant and I got chatting to this homeless fellow John on Deansgate. So I said, ‘John what size are you’ he said ‘14’, I’m a size 9 so it’s a good job it wasn’t the other way round. He said: ‘You won’t believe this, but I’ve got a brand new pair of shoes from an outreach project’, and he said I could borrow them, so we swapped shoes.” He and his wife were then allowed into the restaurant to enjoy a meal.

After leaving the restaurant, Mr. Badshah returned John’s shoes and took back his sandals before offering John £10 pounds, which he initially refused and eventually accepted on the third offer. Mr. Badshah said John’s act of kindness did not go unnoticed with another man, who overheard their conversation, walked over to him and handed him a £50 note.

“John couldn’t believe it. It was unbelievable karma,” Mr. Badshah said. “He kept saying he didn’t want anything in return. I gave John a hug and we took some photos together – we just felt so touched by what he had done.”

Mr. Badshah said he hoped to return to the same restaurant to take John out for a thank you meal.