Pubs open shops with rural funding

Residents in three far-flung villages have been thrown a vital shopping lifeline, thanks to the trade's rural regeneration group Pub is the Hub.

Convenience shops at three village pubs have opened for business, thanks to community grant aid made available through the Hub group.

The new facilities at the

Hare & Hounds, Great Ad-dington, Northamptonshire; the Cross Keys, Grasby, Lincolnshire, and the Black Swan, Ravenstonedale, Cum-

bria, have all been wel-

comed with open arms by local villagers.

Pub is the Hub director John Longden said the schemes provided classic examples of how local pubs can diversify their business by providing supplementary services.

All three are great illustrations of what can be achieved by enterprising licensees developing new services to help local communities.

"Pub Is The Hub is all about working with pub operators and funding agencies to keep isolated communities alive by making pubs a focal point of community life," said Longden.

The Punch-owned Cross Keys at Grasby now runs a convenience store selling fresh local food produce and a range of household toiletries and groceries.

Licensees Wayne and Shirley Clayton opened the store in a disused building in the pub's car park and now trade seven days a week. The scheme was partly financed by the East Midlands Devel-opment Agency's Pub is the Hub fund, which contributed £10,000 of the £16,000 needed to launch the venture.

Licensee Louise Dinnes of

the Black Swan, Ravenstone-dale, converted a ground-floor bedroom into a village shop selling locally-sourced food and items produced by local craftspeople.

The project cost £12,000, with £6,000 financed by Cumbria County Council's Pub is the Hub fund.

Longden said it was one of the nicest pub shop schemes he had seen in years, bringing a much-needed service to the remote village on the Cumbria Yorkshire border.

Hosts David and Yvonne Newman have opened a village shop after utilising unused kitchen space at the Charles Wells-owned Hare & Hounds in Great Addington.

Villagers, asked to identify 50 "must-have" items for the shop to stock, prioritised milk, cheese, cereals, locally-made preserves and deli items.

The scheme cost £12,000 and the East Midlands Development Agency's Pub is the Hub contributed £9,000.