A GYM will be offering free food, showers and presents for the homeless on Christmas Day.

Bosses at Burnley’s Muscle Factory have invited people who are homeless to visit and also take advantage of haircuts on offer and winter essentials, gym owners and cousins Buddy and Tariq Khan have said.

Buddy, who has been running the premises with Tariq, 30, for five years, said: “We do a lot of charity work to get the community together to show how strong Burnley is.”

More than 150 homeless people visited the Daneshouse Road gym last year and this year it will be held for the third year running.

Buddy, 38, added: “Three years ago, when it started, between 20 and 30 people came to the gym on Christmas Day and we asked them what they were doing here.

“They told us they had nowhere else to go on Christmas Day and nobody else to spend time with.We thought we have to do something for them.

“Burnley is a small town and we are not a commercial gym, we are family oriented. We want to help those who have suffered.”

This year Buddy’s seven-year-old daughter, Eiliyah, has used some of her own pocket money to purchase winter clothes, including hats and scarves, and shower gel, in preparation.

A shoebox appeal has also been launched and the two cousins are looking for people to donate items, including children’s hats, scarves, gloves, socks and foil thermal blankets.

Buddy, who also has an 11-month-old daughter called Deenah, will be working with charity group, Community Outreach UK, this month.

The charity group will be offering free takeaway meals for the homeless through Florida Takeaway, on Brougham Street, Burnley, during the winter months.

It will open for the homeless every Wednesday between 7.30pm to 8.30pm from November 28.