Langham Community Shop and Post Office
Services Offered
*Over 600 different lines of standard products and groceries.
*Fresh bread, cakes and savouries are delivered daily by Cabin Bakery. Special requirements can, of course, be ordered
*Fresh fruit and vegetables which are sourced locally.
*Newspapers to buy or by order.
*Fresh fish van on a Thursday from 9.00 to 10.00
*Every few months we organise a bulk delivery of heating oil and because we might be ordering 50000 litres we can negotiate a very healthy discount!
*Services like photocopying and Danes dry cleaning.
*Products which are unique include such things as key rings and fridge magnets with the village crest, postcards of the village and hand made greeting cards. Seasonal items include Christmas cards, showing views of the village and a calendar, again with different views of the village. There is also an interactive, multimedia CD called "Langham, a Pictorial History." The CD contains about 1900 photographs of the village from early times until the present day together with over 60000 words of description and the history of the village. We hope that this will develop into an archive of photographs of the village and any more contributions would be very gratefully received! We would only want to borrow the photographs for a day or so.
Bonfire night sparks village shop
Langham Village Shop, closed in 2002. With the closure of the shop the village seemed to lose its heart and its focal point and become simply a dormitory rather than a community. The idea of trying to set up a Community Shop came from the ladies doing the refreshments at the Bonfire Night in 2002.
Since then it took almost two years of fund raising, to achieve the objective of establishing a comminty shop. The Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Countryside Project helped the vilagers of Langham apply for funding.
The Community Centre was the obvious place for a shop becauseof its centeral location and car park. However after initial discussions with the planners it was clear that they would not give permission for an extension to the Community Centre but would give permission for a temporary building and so the idea of a purpose built portacabin was born.
The cabin eventually arrived on a low loader on the wet and windy morning of 13th September 2004 and was lifted into position by a large crane. The Post Office opened on 30th September 2004 and the whole project was completed on 16th October 2004, when Simon Baldock of BBC Radio Essex opened the shop.
Information from shop's website