'YOU DON'T MISS SOMETHING UNTIL IT’S GONE', so the saying goes. How true that is about a village shop and post office. Instead of popping down the road to meet a friendly face to buy those things you are desperate for, you now have to travel four, five miles or even further. Support your village shop and post office before you lose them. If yours has closed or is in danger of doing so then read on.

The Antrobus Experience

Early in 2003 Antrobus Parish Council was concerned that the village shop had been closed for several months and that the post office on the same premises was being manned by an interim Postmaster with no guarantee of a continued service unless a permanent postmaster/postmistress could be found.

The Parish Council held a public meeting in February 2003 a representative of the post office attended and stated the post office would have to be closed in due course if the position could not be filled permanently. 60 people attended the meeting and all wanted the return of a village shop and the future of the post office to be secured. Nobody at the meeting was prepared to take on the business of the shop or apply for the position of postmaster/postmistress. However, the idea of running the shop as a community shop came out of the meeting. The owner and ex-proprietor of the shop and post office indicated that he and his wife would be happy to rent the premises to anyone wishing to re-open the shop. The Parish Council set a date for a second public meeting and said that they would research the possibility of a community shop and report back to the meeting.

Between the meetings the Parish Council contacted the Cheshire Community Council and ViRSA (Village Rural Shops Alliance). Valuable information was received from both but the visit by a representative of ViRSA was most informative.

The second public meeting listened to the information the Parish Council had gathered and it was agreed unanimously that a steering committee be formed. The committee was not elected; eight people were happy to be involved and that was that. As it turned out, the talents of the committee were a perfect match. The people concerned originally fill all but one position on the current management committee.

The shop and post office (which is run independently from the shop) have now been open for nearly three years and both continue to prosper. We have achieved our objectives of re-opening the village shop and securing the future of the post office. We have also, through various initiatives, returned a considerable amount of money to the community. This would not have been possible without the hard work of our volunteers and support of the community. It is worth remembering that it takes a team of 15 unpaid volunteers to run this business seven days a week; whereas in most villages there are probably two people running their own shop, struggling to make a living and working all hours to do so.

See the Step by Step account of the action we took up to opening the Antrobus Village Shop for more detailed information. Please use this only as a guide but please do not hesitate to contact us; we will be very happy to help any group that might be interested in opening a community shop.