Leonardo DiCaprio mobbed on trip to Scottish restaurant

Leonardo DiCaprio was mobbed by fans as he visited a restaurant set up to help the homeless in Scotland.

The actor and environmental activist, 42, lunched at the Home restaurant in Edinburgh on Thursday (17Nov16), a new eatery whose profits are split between helping those who live on the city's streets and other good causes.

Leonardo's lunch date followed a similar visit by George Clooney to a sandwich shop run by Home's bosses last year (15).

The 2016 Oscar-winner is in Scotland's capital to speak at the Scottish Business Awards on Thursday evening but took time out of his schedule to visit the restaurant, which was opened in September (16) by Josh Littlejohn, the founder of the charitable sandwich shop chain Social Bite.

Before entering the eatery, which is staffed by people who were living on the streets, Leonardo signed autographs for fans and posed for pictures.

Many had spent hours waiting for a glimpse of the star, who is believed to be visiting Scotland for the first time.

Biffy McKay, a staff member who was homeless for five years but has now cooked for the Hollywood superstar said making Leonardo lunch was a "a dream come true" as she had "loved him since I was little girl".

Another Colin Childs added, "To have the experience of cooking lunch for such a big star is class and something to add my CV (curriculum vitae)!"

As well as offering employment to those looking to turn their lives around the restaurant and sandwich chain offers customers the chance to buy a meal for a homeless person.

Of Leonardo's visit to his restaurant, Josh said, "Homeless people are then invited in every Monday to dine with dignity, as well as being offered job opportunities to help break the cycle of homelessness.

"For Leo to choose to highlight this initiative whilst in Scotland is very humbling and we are grateful to him for raising the awareness."

Social Bite hit the headlines last year (15) when George visited one of their shops. Josh revealed to WENN that George's visit to the cafe caused a surge in sales at the shops and had resulted in him fielding calls from around the world asking about the project.

"The Clooney factor on Social Bite has truly gone global - we've had people contacting us from South America, Australia and South Africa wanting to emulate our business concept," he said.