Please support local business – the £5 challenge

A conundrum exists in Pitstone.

Recently, the council has received feedback that residents would like more facilities in the village, for example more shops and pubs.   However, the majority of the local pubs have closed over the last few years due to dwindling revenue and there remain vacant business units in Ivinghoe.  When the council has approached developers and pub/restaurant chains whilst looking at the plans for the Pitstone Development Area, it has continually been told that such ventures would ‘not be viable’ and will ‘not be sustainable’, so no firm offers have come forward.

How do we stop this negative downward spiral and prove to potential retailers and service providers that we do have a strong, vibrant community that will support local initiatives?

An interesting article by Mike Rutland may be a good start.  Entitled “Support your local town – the £5 challenge”, he urges every household to divert £5 of their existing weekly expenditure out of the big supermarkets and chain stores and into local business.  Not an extra £5, just swapping where you spend your existing budget.

There are over 1,318 properties (not people) in Pitstone alone.  If every home spent £5 locally during the 52 weeks of the year, that would generate a massive £342,680 boost to our local economy!

Pitstone may not have a whole high street full of shops, but you can source many goods locally.  So why not take up the challenge?

Get your fresh meat & eggs at Grooms Farm Shop, collect your fresh fruit and veg from Grove Farm and pick up some of your everyday essentials from Masons.
Go for a drink at the Social Club or Rose & Crown, or grab a cup of tea at the Grebe Canal or CuriosiTEA tea shops.
Support the host of home-based small businesses that would love you to buy their cosmetics, toiletries, cards, jewellery, crafts, bags etc.
Support the outlets in the business park, that can supply you with new tiles, catering or cleaning supplies, conservatories or furniture to name just a few.

And if you have a home based business or a unit on our retail park and would like the Pitstone residents to buy from you, please leave us your contact details and we can add them to the web site so that people can always find you.