Barford Village Shop
We lost our last remaining shop when Barford News and Post Office was sold in February 2005, due to retirement.
We immediately gave up walking around, didn’t meet friends collecting papers or buying milk. Our children had nowhere to spend their pocket money and we also had a 6 mile round trip for any forgotten groceries.
The shop was closed for 6 months and then re-opened by a tenant, who attempted to run the shop but lived some way away so opening hours were limited and the stock range was restricted. Some newspapers were finally sold but the Post Office never re-opened, despite promises that talks were ongoing. The shop closed for the second time in February 2006.
A Parish Meeting was held in May 2006 with a unanimous vote that we wanted to reinstate our village shop. As a result, the Barford Village Shop Action Group was formed, which set up small parties of volunteers to look at possible locations, which services & stock the village wanted and how we could fund the initiative.
Meanwhile the JPC had also become involved and did a lot of work, which resulted in the installation of a sub Post Office to operate 3 afternoons a week in the Memorial Hall, starting in November 2006.
At a similar time, the Barford Village Shop CIC was formed as a legal entity to control the shop during set up and future running. Shares were sold at £20, restricted to one per person. The original 3 members of the Action Group formed the new board and were joined by 2 others to provide a varied skills base and help spread the workload. They were ably assisted by many, many villagers who helped out in all manner of ways and without whom the shop would not be what it is today.
By Christmas 2006 we had
1. Decided to run a community shop following a ViRSA model.
2. Identified a site and prepared a planning application.
3. Carried out a village survey of what stock and services the shop should have.
4. Held our first fundraising event.
5. Applied for our first grant.
2007 was spent fundraising, completing grant applications and encouraging villagers to give donations and loans.
The Barford Charity was set up to assist in fund raising as well as to act as a vehicle for distributing profits in later years.
Planning permission was granted in February 2007 for an extension to the Memorial Hall in Church Street. Detailed architectural drawings were produced with tenders being invited from local builders.
Meanwhile work was underway on the shop layout and range planning with potential suppliers being identified, many of them local to the area.
We also had to negotiate the release of a covenant on the village green, apply for the required licence agreements, negotiate the move of the P.O. into its new home, investigate heating, cooling & till systems, banking arrangements, lighting & flooring choices etc along with planning the operational side of the shop and what we wanted it to achieve for the community.
The tender was finally allocated in January 2008 with the sod- cutting ceremony taking place at the end of February. The build started and was swiftly completed within budget and on schedule with the keys being handed over to the village on 2nd August 2008.
The internal fit out then began. Volunteers painted the internal walls, washed & fitted the shelving, installed the electrics plus 1001 other finishing tasks before the stock was finally placed on the shelves ready for opening.
The shop was officially opened by the whole village on Saturday 1st November 2008.
- We have now been open for well over a year and have achieved an annual turnover in excess of £250k, serving on average 1350 customers a week.
- There are now over 530 shareholders.
- We have 2 part time employees, a manager and an administrator.
- There are over 70 volunteers covering 4 shifts a day, 2 at any one time.
- The Post Office opens three afternoons a week.
The Internet café has proved especially popular providing free internet and Skype access and a very reasonably priced cup of fresh coffee, enjoyed by many families after school as the children enjoy exploring the new play equipment and village green.
The shop has done a lot to provide a new social hub for the village and is widely used by all, young and old. We have held several fun days, sung carols round the Christmas tree and celebrated our first birthday with a fantastic cake modelled on the shop.
We are ahead of target, paying back our loans on time and we believe the shop has a sound financial future.
The village is very proud of its shop and we still strive hard to maintain the high standards achieved to ensure that it is here for a very long time to come, becoming another important part of Barford’s heritage.
Taken from the shop's website
