Hambledon Village Shop and Post Office has reached the significant milestone of 20 years since it was reopened as a community-run business.
A celebratory party was held in the village hall on Friday (Nov 16) attended by many of those involved in setting up the shop two decades ago together with the current management team and volunteers.
Virginia Bottomley, who as local MP was asked to reopen the shop in 1992, returned to the village to toast its continued success, paying particular tribute to the villagers whose vision, hard work and generosity got got the shop reopened and the many volunteers who have kept it going since.
“If Britain is a nation of shop keepers then Hambledon is a village of shopkeepers,” she said.
Hambledon has had a village shop since at least 1850. It closed in March 1991 as, like so many other small shops, it lost out to supermarkets. It was a grievous loss to a rural community like Hambledon and older people in particular missed the convenience of a general provisions store and Post Office.
Two things happened that were to galvanise a team of villagers to take matters into their own hands. The Rev Christopher Blissard-Barnes, then vicar of St Peter’s Church, preached a sermon on the value of community spirit, saying that it would be wonderful if the shop could be reopened.