A History of Halstock’s Community Village Shop

 

Halstock had enjoyed the facility of a village shop for many years but in the 1970s 80s the shopping habits of the village changed dramatically. Supermarkets were springing up in the local towns and these quickly wooed car owners to the new style of shopping. This was happening countrywide and was not restricted to Halstock!

 

When, in 1990, the then owners of the village shop decided that they would be unable to continue operating the shop and which would have to close, the Parish Council decided that this was too valuable a service to allow it to disappear. At a Parish Meeting, held to garner support for a Community Shop, enough people promised financial support if a suitable location could be found, to open a Community Shop.

 

A suitable property to rent for a shop was offered by a local resident, although this would require some structural alterations. £15,000 was raised to finance the work and fund the running of the shop. A new community owned company, Halstock Village Shop Ltd, was established and issued shares and debentures in respect of the funds raised. The new Halstock Village Community Shop opened on the Monday after the old one closed on the previous Friday!

 

Sales began to increase to a level at which it was felt that a small living could be offered to someone who could live in the flat that had been created above the shop and run the shop on a commercial basis. In 1991, the first tenants of the business were found and their enthusiasm and hard work, continued the expansion of the business.

 

As the business grew it was decided to look for larger premises located on the main road through the village. Nothing was available, but as the shop was thriving, it was decided to make plans to build our own premises. The venture was dubbed the Halstock Millennium Project.

 

Eventually, a site was located on land that was owned by Magna Housing. After long and tortuous negotiations, it was purchased for £1. Plans were drawn for the new premises and the necessary approvals obtained.

 

Great foresight was shown by the Committee by including two flats in the building above the shop, which would generate sufficient income to help to repay the mortgage which was required and maintain the property. In all, the Committee raised £225,000, which included a mortgage of £95,000 in order to complete the project. To enhance the village facilities, a Community Room was included in the plan and we now have, what must surely be, one of the most viable and desirable facilities in any village, let alone one as small as Halstock. The new shop was opened in September 2001.

 

New tenants had taken over the tenancy in the ‘old’ shop in May 2000. They continued running the business in those premises until the new shop was opened in September 2001 and continued there until they resigned the lease effective from 31 January 2013.

 

At that time it was decided that Halstock Village Shop Ltd would take over the running of the shop and it entered a new phase of its life by reverting to a true Community Shop again, run with the help of a paid manager and assistant manager and about 15 volunteers from Halstock, Corscombe and surrounding villages.

 

Our efforts were greatly helped by a generous grant from The Big Lottery Fund. This enabled us to replace the aging refrigeration equipment, change the layout of the shop, including the Post Office which was altered to a new open plan format which released some additional shop space for stock. Other improvements have been made over the years including the installation of air conditioning and new lighting.

 

The biggest change came in 2024 when the back of the shop was reconfigured to incorporate a small slice of the Community Room. This gave much more space for new, big upright freezers which replaced the old chest freezers. The number of frozen products were increased and it was easy for customers to see what was on offer.