Freshford Could Get Community Shop

[whole diary]

[Lee]

At a Bath and North East Somerset Council development control meeting on Wednesday, the majority of councillors voted in favour of supporting proposals to create a timber building which would house a post office and kitchen area (link below.)
http://thisisbath.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=163490&command=displayContent&sourceNode=163316&contentPK=20195180&folderPk=89126&pNodeId=163047

The application has been supported in principle, but as it a departure from the Local Plan and would be built on a green belt site it will now be passed to local government minister Baroness Andrews for final approval.

[Lee]

The shop is being planned by a steering group, and 35 volunteers have signed up to work shifts (link below.)
http://thisisbath.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=163490&command=displayContent&sourceNode=163316&contentPK=20246308&folderPk=89126&pNodeId=163047

Residents have also pledged to spend ^84,000 a year on groceries.

Once up and running, the shop aims to become a hub for the community, stocking produce from local suppliers including organic meat from a local farmer, home-made jams and chutneys as well as daily provisions.

It will also deliver groceries to the elderly and immobile and will provide basic post office services.

The group had been testing the market by providing a service (including internet access) for eight hours a week in a shop loaned by a charity.

They hope to have their detailed planning application ready in two months and be up and running in a year.

[bobm]

Some six years later - a follow up from This is Wiltshire

Freshford community shop^s a national role model

Peter King (centre, blue jumper) from The Galleries with teams from Braishfield in Hampshire, Bledington in Gloucestershire and Norton sub Hamdon in Somerset

The Galleries Shop and Cafe in Freshford showed other community shops how it is done when they hosted a workshop this month.
 
Nine aspiring community shop teams from around the country congregated at the volunteer-run community shop, which serves Freshford and Limpley Stoke, to hear about the process and issues they may face.
 
Volunteers from the shop, along with visitors from other successful community shops, gave presentations and helped the teams develop their own action plans.
 
The teams toured the community shop, which won the Bath Business Award for Independent Retailer of the Year in 2011, and were given information packs to go along with their action plans.
 
Mike Newby, chair of the shop management committee, said: ^We are always on the lookout for something new to interest our customers, while always making sure that we have everything a household needs, at reasonable prices.^
 
There are now over 300 community shops in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). The Plunkett Foundation is the main supporter of this development, as well as community pubs.
 
Mr Newby added: ^We are proud that the Plunkett Foundation has chosen us to host this event. Clearly they think we have a great story to tell, and indeed our shop achieved a turnover of ^330,000 last year, in only its fourth year of operation.^

The shop is now on the lookout for a new manager as Christine McKenzie, manager for the past four-and-a-half years, is leaving to work at Mystery Diners in Bath.
 
Find more information see www.galleriesshop.co.uk or call 01225 722511