NOT FOR PROFIT

A volunteer run Community Shop, set up, led by and now owned by residents of the village. The shop provides a range of foods and other household products, sourced from nearby farms or local producers wherever possible.

• Community owned.
• Community supporting.
• Community sustaining.



Almondsbury is a pretty rural village on the northern outskirts of Bristol and is well served by an excellent school, an historic church, doctor and dentist surgeries, cricket and football grounds, a garden centre and two great pubs. The one thing that was missing was a local shop!

The last village shop closed in 2002 and most residents had little choice but to drive to the nearest shop for even the smallest items to avoid walking up steep gradients surrounding the village. For the less mobile or those who had given up driving, this posed a serious problem and resulted in some long standing residents moving away from the village. Other residents were concerned about the inconvenience, cost of petrol and the resulting impact on the environment caused by the lack of a shop and were aware that a village shop would also provide a vibrant and convenient focal point for the community.

After much hard work the Community Shop was opened in March 2009 by the local MP, Steve Webb. Volunteers from the village run the shop and provide a wide range of goods with an emphasis on fresh, local produce. Many staple items such as bread, milk and eggs from local producers are competitively priced against the large supermarkets and are delivered fresh from local producers, minimising the miles travelled.

Any profits made by the shop are reinvested in the shop or donated to voluntary or charitable organisations or activities in the local community. The advantages of having a local shop reach far beyond the goods sold and the services supplied. It has become an important meeting place and a vital social and economic hub for the community.