Abstract: A dispensing apparatus for tissue rolls has a body member with a base portion, and a cover which is movable between a closed operating position and an open loading position. The base portion has sidewalls with bearing portions for a cylindrical tissue roll support and a front wall with an opening through which the free end of a tissue roll can be grasped by a finger of the user, pulled out of the opening and severed by engagement with a cutting edge extending across the opening. A lower guide plate member has an outer edge pivotally supported on the base portion for swinging movement around an axis parallel and close to the cutting edge inwardly above the roll support to rest on the tissue roll and support the outermost layer of tissue from the roll toward the cutting edge.