Dozens of local businesses rush to donate £1000s worth of prizes to Manjit’s charity raffle.

It’s fine to admit that, like most people, your natural response to being physically assaulted in your place of work wouldn’t be to try and help the person who’d attacked you, but that’s exactly what one Leeds businesswoman has set out to do.

Manjit Kaur, owner of pioneering street food operation Manjit’s Kitchen, was finishing up after a long shift last weekend on Kirkgate Market - where Manjit’s Kitchen has a permanent residency - when a woman approached the stall asking for a cup of hot water. “Today ended with a woman asking for a cup of hot water.” she tweeted. “I boiled the kettle, gave it to her, and she threw it back in my face and told me to f*ck off back to my own country”

She threw it back in my face and told me to f*ck off back to my own country

Manjit, who was born in Chapel Town, found the attack “scary and sad” and was left with some burns, but luckily nothing permanent.

Shortly after relaying the details of what she calls a horribly messy encounter, Manjit noted that the perpetrator was drunk and “angry at the world”, and assumed that she was a rough sleeper due to having a bin bag containing her bedding; “If I was carrying my own bedding in a bin bag in Leeds centre on a Saturday eve I would no doubt be angry too…”

The story attracted attention and well-wishes from all over the world, and that would’ve been the end of the story for a lot of us - it might even think twice before giving some spare change to the next homeless person we saw - but Manjit announced plans the next day for a charity raffle to raise some money for Leeds homeless charity Simon on the Streets the next day.

Initially starting as a raffle to win a £100 voucher to spend at Kirkgate Market which Manjit personally donated, but friends and colleagues from local independents soon rushed to contribute thousands of pounds worth of prizes to the fund.

Among the prizes are vouchers for George & Joseph cheesemongers, Yoga Hero, and Laynes Espresso, a £200 bar tab at Belgrave Music Hall, 4 tickets to any Superfriendz gig, meals at Ox Club, The Swine That Dines, Sela Bar, and The Grub & Grog Shop, Brewery tour and beers at North Brew Co, Northern Monk, Kirkstall Brewery, and classes at Learn to Brew UK and North Star Coffee.

Overwhelmed by the response from local businesses, Manjit tweeted three days after the assault “I have almost forgot someone chucked hot water in my face. I am quite clearly not going back to my own country”

The raffle will be drawn at next month’s Kirkgate Night Market on Thursday 21 December, the initial event in October - which Manjit was an instrumental figure in helping get off the ground - pulled in over 4,000 customers keen to see a little more of the market’s potential. Tickets are available soon from Manjit’s priced at £2 each.

For a full, up-to-date list of prizes head to Manjit's Kitchen on Facebook.