Blunsdon Community Shop & Café grand opening on Saturday 25 March

There’s been a community shop in Blunsdon for almost twenty years, providing a hub for the local community, alongside other village businesses such as the Heart in Hand Pub and Blunsdon House Hotel.

It’s mainly a volunteer run organisation, both on the Management Committee and working shifts in the shop. After three years in the making, the shop is moving into a new building, gifted to the community by Hayfield Homes as part of their planning application, and expanding their product range to include some high-end fresh produce, plastic reducing environmental products, freshly baked bread and a café.

The Blunsdon Community shop’s been fortunate to have many generous sponsors including Community First, The Prestbury Cottage Trust and the Highworth Lions organisation, as well as community fundraising support through shares, personalised block paving and events such as a Bingo night. The internal fixtures for the shop were created and installed by TT Solutions, Swindon who also provide fixtures for the National Trust and Waterstones.

The new shop will partner with many local businesses, such as:

• The Oxford Coffee Company for our coffee supplies.
• Sister Bakes for our café cakes.
• Four Seasons Fruiterers from Cricklade for our fresh produce.
• Country Choice for our fresh part baked bread and bread oven.
• As well as local craftspeople, selling their products

On Saturday 25th March, the new shop & café will be open all day, 8am until 5pm, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2pm to mark the official opening with local celebrity, Nick Knowles. Customers can pop along at a time suited to them as there’s plenty to get involved with throughout the day – there’ll be a special thank you to our first 50 customers who’ll get two stamps on a loyalty card, rather than one, local author Richard Radway will be signing copies of his book (available to purchase in the shop for £10) and local company Smiley Cats will be offering face painting.

Check out their social media, @blunsdoncommunityshop on Instagram and Blunsdon Community Shop on Facebook for all the details.

From Saturday 25th March, the new shop & café opening hours will be:

• Weekdays: 8am – 5pm
• Saturday: 8am – 5pm
• Sunday: 8am – 4pm

The café closes one hour before the shop.