Membership

• Shop Membership is £5 and valid for 1 year.

• When a membership is close to expiry an email will be sent out with a reminder to renew. Memberships can only be renewed by physically visiting the Shop during opening hours and paying the membership fee.

• Shop membership entitles the member to visit the shop once a week (Thursday or Friday) and purchase a basket of goods for a fixed price of £5. This fee is paid every visit. The value of a full basket is about £25+.

• If a member does not renew their membership within three months of it expiring, they will be removed from the system and will have to rejoin to become a member again.

• If a member can not visit the Shop themselves, they can nominate a friend or family member to do a weekly shop for them. However, they first need to give us the name of the person who will be doing a shop on their behalf. This can be done in person or via their registered email address.

Shop Layout

• The Shop is divided into sections. Each week members can choose a set number of items from each section. If you have dietary restrictions/allergies and a section does not have something suitable for you, please speak to staff. We will do our best to assist.

• Fruit and Veg. There will be a sign indicating what to take.

• Please bring a shopping bag as well as a container for the gravity bin section (jar, small bag, etc).

• Ambient shelves are colour coded. Normally you can choose 1 item from each section.

• On occasion, we invite members to take more than one item from a given section. If that is the case, there will be a sign indicating how many items you can choose.

• Fridges and Freezers. 1 item from each fridge and freezer, unless there is a sign stating otherwise.

• Red section. The items in the red section are typically past their Best Before Date. Food that is past its Best Before Date is safe to eat, however, it may have deteriorated in quality. For example, bread that has gone a bit stale. This is different to Use By date, which indicates that the food is no longer safe to eat.

• For Sale sections. We have one fridge and one shelf with items available to purchase separately from your shop. Each item will have a sticker on with a price. We aim to have a selection of every day items that are cheaper than they would be in the supermarket.

How it works behind the scenes

• The Community Shop offers access to affordable food without means testing. Some people confuse us with a Food Bank. We are not a Food Bank and operate on a different model. Food Banks usually help those most in need, limit the number of times people can use them, and require a referral. We do not require a referral and serve local residents regardless of their income.

• We receive food from several sources, the main one is FareShare. FareShare is a nationwide organisation set up to make sure that good food does not go to waste. They collect surplus food from supermarkets, typically food that is short dated, and distribute them to partner organisations.

• We have a subscription with FareShare, that provides a weekly delivery of food. We have no control of what comes, so the items available in the Shop week to week do vary.

• The food that we receive from FareShare is not free, we pay a yearly subscription fee. Which is why we charge Shop members for the service.

• All money collected by the Shop is used to purchase food/cover operational costs. We do not make any profit.

• We also buy some items in ourselves, to make sure that what is offered week to week is always good value.