U.K. Riots: Website Raises £25k to Help 89-Year-Old Barber

Last night about 40 of us (cyclists) went to a pizza parlour in Ealing that had been smashed and looted.

The hooligans smashed windows, stole an empty cash register, stole alcohol and the pizza toppings (!?).

We couldn't think of a better way to help out than to give them enough trade to fill their coffers to the point that they could fix the broken windows, replace things, and far more importantly feel the goodwill of the community.

The level of help being given is wonderful, and it's really small and personal stuff. That barber is an extreme example, but there is a real sense of people rallying around to protect their local small businesses and the people who run them.

The pizza place (if you're curious): http://www.santamariapizzeria.com/

The footage from their CCTV (if you're extremely curious): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwLMAmlomQU

I'm in the US, but find myself in the UK for some time every few months. While I'm not opposed to donations, I'd also love to see a tourist/business traveler guide covering establishments that were affected and would benefit from additional traffic.

I can't seem to find the address of his shop. Is he on Tottenham High Street? I'm past due for a haircut.

There's quite a lot of impressively quick efforts to raise funds for people who are affected (I noticed http://cravify.com who were in the TC article about mapping riot locations have updated their map to allow donations by location), the difficult bit seems to be working out where to send the money, there aren't many charities which formally deal with helping local areas recover from something like this.

I think that article invoked Godwin's law.