Yahoo News Shops of the Year: ‘They’re serving up a glow of optimism’
These are tough times in the retail trade, but not all shops are suffering: local shops in rural communities are greatly valued by their customers, and those that listen to their shoppers and provide what their villages need are thriving.
Just look at the finalists in the village shop category of this year’s Countryside Alliance Awards, which are again sponsored by The Daily Telegraph.
The stores featured here, which are already regional winners, are beacons of optimism in a challenging world, and cherished assets at the heart of their communities.
Hawkesbury Community Shop
In January 2016 Hawkesbury Stores in the village of Hawkesbury Upton, Gloucestershire was threatened with closure. More than 200 people turned up – from a village of just 500 households – to the meeting to discuss its future.
They bought the shop themselves. On June 23, 2016, the old village shop shut for good, only to reopen the next morning with newly stacked shelves. Over £165,000 had been raised from villagers who bought shares to secure its future. The first year’s trading surpassed predictions.
Chris Couzins-Short, chairman of Hawkesbury Stores’ voluntary management group, says: “Hawkesbury proves that strong communities can do amazing things.”
Community ownership has transformed the shop, which not only stocks local produce but offers services from dry cleaning pick up to repeat prescription delivery from the GP surgery. As well as 300 shareholders, scores of volunteers are involved. Couzins-Short adds: “The village feels pride and loyalty to the business because we’re all invested in its success, whether we hold shares or not.”
High Street, Hawkesbury Upton, Badminton, Gloucestershire GL9 1AU
Boudicca Fox-Leonard
Pontrilas Village Shop
It’s not unusual for farmers to slip off their muddy wellies before entering Pontrilas Village shop and post office. Four years ago the Herefordshire shop was dank, dusty and dark, but now it’s the pride of the village’s 3,000 residents.
For Sonya Cary and her husband Necdet Kolca, it is the base for running their social enterprise CARE, which supports more than 100 residents who no longer drive and have no family to help them. They have turned the old sorting office into a tea room holding lunch clubs for the elderly and regular whist drives. On Christmas Day they welcomed 14 residents for lunch.
Both Cary and Kolca have a background in charity work and when they moved to Pontrilas in 2013 were stuck by the need to support the village’s elderly to live independently.
“All the nearest services are over the A465 – the doctor’s surgery, the school, the pub. It might as well be the River Amazon,” says Cary.
Soon after launching CARE in 2014, the post office and shop were threatened with permanent closure. And so, with just £1,000 they took it on. There have been steep learning curves, but says Cary: “We’ve tripled the post office’s turnover.” Not content, they have now launched a dementia-friendly arts and crafts café, which also encourages intergenerational activities. And they hope to open an active ageing fitness studio. They even sell Avon. “Our elderly can’t get out to town to buy their lipstick,” explains Cary.
Pontrilas, Hereford, Herefordshire HR2 0BA
Boudicca Fox-Leonard
Village shop, Newbridge-on-Wye
Adele and Jeff Jones purposely set out to find and create a family business. Deciding on the mid-Wales village of Newbridge-on-Wye, they set about transforming, both financially and cosmetically, the village shop and post office into the thriving business it is today, running no less than five outreach post offices in neighbouring villages. “It’s so nice to be with the customers every day,” Adele says. “We like to know about them and see that they’re all right. And they ask about us. It’s a lovely village and everybody looks after each other. It’s wonderful to be a part of that.” As one of their nominations stated, the Joneses “keep our little village alight with a glow of optimism”.
Newbridge-on-Wye, Llandrindod Wells, Powys LD1 6LH
Boudicca Fox-Leonard
People don’t necessarily see folk in rural areas, so they can pop in and have a natter
Church Fenton Community Shop
In recent years, residents of Church Fenton in North Yorkshire have felt the isolation of rural life in modern times: two of the village pubs have closed, and bus services have been cut down.
But there’s still the church, a “brilliant” Indian restaurant – and the village shop, which was threatened with closure when the former owners Geoff and Jean Mason retired after a 43-year tenure. Now run entirely by volunteers, its swift reopening was a feat of community spirit. Jane Hardman-Ferris is on the management committee, and has lived in Church Fenton for 15 years. She adores the peace and quiet of the place – but relishes the re-emergence of the shop as a hub of village life. “We’ve got an ageing population, but we’ve also got a lot of young mums in the village,” she says. “They don’t want to pack the kids in the car to do their shopping, they want to be able to nip out and get a few necessities every now and then.
“It’s a social thing as well. People don’t necessarily see folk from one day to the next in rural areas, so they can pop in and have a natter with us, and with each other,” she adds.
The array of wares is impressive: local honey from Barkston Ash Beekeepers and “squeaky” halloumi from Yorkshire Dama Cheese (founded by Razan Alsous, a microbiologist who left Syria as a refugee in 2012.) According to Heather Rose, also on the committee, there’s more to look forward to: “A postal service, a pharmacy, perhaps dry-cleaning – and a space for people to relax and socialise outside.”
Church Fenton, N Yorks LS24 9RA; church-fenton.net
Madeleine Howell
Amberley Village Stores
Amberley is a nostalgic settlement. Villagers sip tea and crunch toast in the tea room, side-by-side with the intrepid tourists rosy-cheeked from hiking along the South Downs way.
The village was once home to numerous independent shops, but these days, residents are served solely by Amberley Village Stores for groceries and postal and banking services. Colin Woods runs the business with Lee Stace and Tina Bishop. He’s proud of introducing the store’s own range when he came on board in 2001, including quality sausages and moreish rhubarb crumble biscuits.
“Things that you can’t get elsewhere,” he explains. “We like our customers to ask ‘Have we got?’, not ‘Have you got?’ Then they’re a part of the shop.”
High Street, Amberley, W Sussex BN18 9NL; 01798 831171; amberleystores.co.uk
Madeleine Howell
Itteringham Village Shop
In a tiny Norfolk village sits one of the most remarkable shops in the country. Just last year, Itteringham Village Shop was facing closure when the landlords decided to sell up.
After continuous trading on the site since 1637, centuries of history were coming to an end. A successful Save Our Shop campaign encouraged the council to come to the rescue, breathing new life into the old shop.
“The council saw it as a good investment in the long term, they could see our value in the community,” says Steven Burbidge, vice-chairman of the shop’s management committee.
Alongside local produce, there’s an art gallery showcasing local artists, and you can pick up a book or even some socks – “it’s an interesting, slightly quirky, variety of things”.
There are monthly social gatherings, and next door’s Fair Meadow House is available to rent as a holiday home. The future, according to Burbidge, is bright under their new landlords, and Itteringham Village Shop should be serving locals and visitors alike for years to come.
Wolterton Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR11 7AF
Tomé Morrissy-Swan
Finchingfield Village Stores
Jane Welsh and Alex Robinson had been living and working in London but realised that they were spending every spare moment in the country.
A permanent move seemed like a bright idea. “I’d been manager of a bookshop,” Jane recalls, “and Al’s career in the education sector had given her good experience of working with people, so a shop seemed to be a good use of our skills.”
The Essex village of Finchingfield has been described by The Telegraph as “Britain’s most-photographed” but it takes more to maintain a community than good looks, and Welsh and Robinson started their life in the village with some market research.
“We put a questionnaire on the counter to find out what people wanted: fresh fruit and veg,” Jane says. “We expanded the shop, and filled the space with local produce. Now we sell everything from fruit and veg to beef and beer to sweets and cakes, and because we use local suppliers it’s cheaper than at a supermarket.”
They have now been running the shop for seven years and, says Jane, “we feel very much at home. We know we have so much more than a shop: it had become the centre of the village. We’re proud that our customers nominated us, and very grateful.”
Bardfield Road, Finchingfield, Great Dunmow, Essex CM7 4LS; finchingfieldpo.co.uk
Tom Ough
