Avebury's long wait for shop almost at an end (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Avebury's long wait for shop almost at an end

10:37am Thursday 22nd January 2009

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Villagers in Avebury are preparing for the opening of their community shop in March having gone without a village store since their post office closed last April.

Through the Avebury Community Shop Steering Group they have raised more than £25,000 to kick-start the shop and more than 30 villagers have volunteered to staff it when it opens.

The manager will be Wendy Gallop from Calne who previously ran the village’s tourist information centre for 16 years when it was in the Great Barn.

The community shop will be in the old post office building, Hope Cottage in the High Street, where a Post Office outreach service will continue to be available on weekdays except Tuesdays.

The village’s only shop closed when its former tenants Dick and Gilda Stannard retired last April after running it for more than 25 years. It was the second blow for the village because its school had closed a few months previously.

Dave Scattergood, chairman of the steering group, said there had been a strong tradition of community life in Avebury but that had been put under threat by the closure of the school and the shop.

“The closure of the shop has brought real hardship to some and inconvenienced many with the nearest food shops being a 12 mile round trip,” he said.

The absence of a shop also inconvenienced the village’s 250,000 annual visitors.

Villagers called a crisis meeting and set up the steering group that has led negotiations with the shop owners, the National Trust.

More than £25,000 grant funding has been sourced from organisations including Kennet District Council, the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Community First, the Plunkett Foundation and Co-operative and Community Finance.

Donations have amounted to more than £3,300 and hundreds of £10 shares in the business have been snapped up.

Mr Scattergood said: “We are over the first financial hurdle. We are also indebted to the National Trust’s commitment to our local community, evidenced by their provision of Hope Cottage for a nominal rent.”

The NT’s Avebury property manager Scott Green said: “We are very pleased to be supporting this move however we can.”

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