Detling Community Store feature on BBC’s The One Show!

July 4, 2022

After the closure of the only community shop, residents of Detling, Kent, were left with no access to everyday essentials and often had to travel several miles outside of the village for necessities.

Residents of Detling sitting atDetling Community Store for Coffee morning

Six years after the store closed, Richard Finn (a resident of Detling) decided to rally together with other residents to seek ways to reinstate the shop for the community. Following huge efforts from the community, The Prince’s Countryside Fund awarded £25,000 to Detling Community Store, to support the hiring of a shop manager.

The store finally opened in 2020, two days before the first Covid-19 lockdown. This was a pivotal moment, explains store manager Louise: “The grant really helped the store to get off the ground. We opened just before the first ever lockdown so the support from The Prince’s Countryside Fund meant that we could keep progressing with our plans through the pandemic.”

Detling Community Store featured on the BBC’s The One Show on 28th June 2022 discussing how the village is defying odds with people living well into their 90s. A large part of this is attributed to the need to keep busy; Detling Community Store currently have 15-20 volunteers from the village helping to run the shop and it has become a focal point for the community.

Watch their appearance on the One Show here from 18:22: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0018t7f/the-one-show-28062022