Police attend after ‘thousands' amass for Oowee burger giveaway on Bristol's College Green

A crowd of ‘thousands' of people had to be managed by the police after amassing on Bristol's College Green to get a free burger from local restaurant brand Oowee diner.

Burger brand Oowee, which operates two diner restaurants and one vegan sister site, partnered with Deliveroo to offer free food to mark the delivery platform company's fourth birthday.

However the company quickly found

Oowee founder Charlie Watson told The Caterer: "We were thinking two or three hundred people might turn up which would be quite a lot. I think there was a few thousand probably.

"When we cooked the second batch I went up there to give them out and literally as soon as I turned up there were crowds swarming around the car."

While the gathering was reportedly good-natured, Avon and Somerset police attended the scene to offer crowd management. Bystanders said one officer could be heard saying "calm down, it's just a burger".

Watson added: "The police turned up and helped out - they saw this huge crowd of people and thought they were protesting and it turned out it was actually for a burger."

A Deliveroo spokesperson said: "We've delivered millions of meals across Bristol in the last four years and we know locals love Oowee Diner's amazing burgers. We didn't expect such a huge turnout for our giveaway. Next time we will ensure we have enough burgers for everyone. For those that didn't nab a free burger today you can head down to Oowee or get them delivered to your door exclusively on Deliveroo."

Photo Credit: Matt Jarvis