Campaigners celebrate as village shop opens its doors

THE campaign to save Whitley’s village shop reached a milestone moment this month, when a new community-owned shop officially opened its doors to the public. 

The grand opening of Whitley Stores, located on Top Lane, follows a year-long campaign by villagers in Whitley and Shaw to provide a shop for the area when it was announced post-lockdown, that the former shop and café, The Toast Office, would not be reopening. 

Visitors to the shop can now find a variety of local produce on offer to buy – but at the heart of the project is the community, with all money raised from the shop staying within the community to support local projects or organisations. 

The village shop also aims to combat social isolation in the community by providing a place for people to visit and meet others in the area. 

“We’re thrilled with how the shop looks and have had loads of positive feedback from our customers so far, who’ve been coming in to see what we stock,” reports Alison Candlin on behalf of the Shaw and Whitley Community Hub, who led the campaign to save the shop. 

“Our volunteers are working shifts of two hours at a time and we have around 40 already on our books for regular shifts or to fill in when there are gaps. They’re all loving it so far and we’re all really enjoying meeting and chatting to villagers.  

“Central to our mission is to help to combat social isolation within rural communities, both for the customers who now have a shop to walk to, to pick up a paper or a few items of shopping, and for the volunteers who are offering their time to work in the shop.  

“It’s a real community effort that has been made possible only through the generous donations of time from local people and their purchase of community shares to fund the start-up costs.  

“We have also received a small start-up grant from Melksham Area Board and Melksham Without Parish Council, which helped us to purchase equipment such as fridges and the till. 

“We’re delighted to be working alongside Barbastelle Bikes, who own the building, and Spindles Bikes, our co-tenants, who are running a cafe and bike shop/workshop in the premises too.” 

About what’s on offer at Whitley Stores, Alison said, “Newspapers are already our biggest seller, with people adding their regular orders day by day. Fresh bread and pastries at the weekend are also a hit! We’ve got a wide range of sweets, crisps, drinks and chocolate for emergency snacking and a full range of everyday basics from bread and baked beans to fresh milk, local sausages and eggs, and household essentials (like toilet roll!).  

“We also have some special treats that you wouldn’t find in the supermarket, like Whitley’s own Wiltshire Chilli Farm sauces and snacks, beer, wine and gin all produced in Bradford on Avon, local honey from Biddestone Bees and gifts from local artisan makers in Atworth and Corsham.  

“Our meat comes from Padfield Porkies in Seend, milk from Steeple Ashton Dairy, Greek style yoghurt from the Bybrook valley in Box, Lacock Dairy ice cream, fruit and veg from Lovejoys, bread and pastries from Hobbs House – and more.  

“All profits from the shop will stay within the community to support local projects or organisations. 

“We’re also accepting donations of surplus homegrown fruit and vegetables from the village vegetable growers, which we are selling for a donation of however much the customer wants. Our first veg donor was Hugh, who had read about us in the Melksham News – he now comes over from Melksham to support the shop by buying his paper and other items and with his freshly picked green beans, which flew off the shelf!” 

Whitley Stores, located on Top Lane in Whitley, is open 9-5 Monday to Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday.