Furniture from apart-hotel goes on sale in charity shop

Marlin Apartments, which offers self-catering short-stay accommodation at a number of locations including Empire Square in Long Lane, has donated dozens of unwanted sofas to the British Heart Foundation.

"Being 4 star rated accommodation means that we are continuously updating our furniture; most recently we simply swapped our almost-new sofas for sofa beds to offer more flexibility to customers," said Susan Cully, managing director of Marlin Apartments.

"Marlin is overjoyed that rather than disposing of them, they have gone to a fantastic cause.

"We want to make sure we are doing all we can to help people who need it most.

"Now our sofas are paying for life-saving equipment and research.

"This is just the first step in our new relationship and with more developments and refurbishment planned as part of the business's wider growth strategy, we will be donating everything we can this year to support the crucial work of the BHF."

So far the BHF has raised almost £5,000 from 48 donated sofas sold through the charity's furniture and electrical store in Old Kent Road.

Marlin is also donating all unclaimed items of lost property in the hope of raising more money for the charity.

The BHF's Clare Appleby said: "We're very grateful to Marlin Apartments for its fantastic support of BHF stores in this innovative way.

"We're looking forward to working with the team over the next few months and beyond to raise as much money as possible for our vital research into heart disease, as well as being able to offer our customers some great quality furniture at a fantastic price."

* British Heart Foundation's furniture and electrical store is at 211-219 Old Kent Road, SE1 5LU.