Whittlesford Village Shop

At Whittlesford parish council meeting on Tuesday we discussed and agreed overwhelmingly to encourage support for the village shop, Masseys of Whittlesford.
The shop is facing the financial pressures all such small businesses are finding themselves up against. We did consider the options of a community shop, and I have talked to people who have set them up. But we all agreed that it is far better for the shop to run as a commercial operation, and that we get behind it in terms of custom and shopping.

The grandly titled Commission for Rural Communities tells us something we already know, that "Post Offices combined with village shops together provide important services for local communities, particularly for vulnerable groups who are more reliant on them for their needs." But the research from the CRC does go on make some useful points, such as:

• the erosion of small shops is the erosion of the ‘social glue’ that binds communities together
• half of the turnover from local retailers is returned to the local economy, while large retailers return as little as 5%.

The conclusions it draws are that village shops and post offices are good for communities, even though changes in the way people shop and communicate continue to place them under great pressure.

I think our village shop is working hard to adapt to the needs of the 21st century, and if we value our community, we all need to think about how we can support it - because by doing so we are supporting ourselves.