Litton Community Shop and Post Office
Services Offered
Shop
- Somerfield products
- Coal, kindling and logs
- Stationary and greeting cards
- Wine and beers
- Refreshments including home-made cakes, tea and coffee, local ice-creams
- Online ordering
- Range of local meats, fruit and vegetables
- Newspaper delivery service
Post Office
- Postage
- Pensions, benefits and family allowance payment collection
- Mobile phone top-ups
- Foreign currency and travellers cheques
- Travel insurance
- Personal banking
- National Savings and Investments, Premium Bonds
- Bill payments
Shop success prompts expansion
Following the closure of Litton’s only shop, the post office was re-housed in the Village Hall, but the villagers were not keen on the new arrangements. After some market research they found there was sufficient demand to sustain a shop. Next, they formed a friendly society, each villager buying a ten-pound share, found some derelict premises in what had once been the village smithy, obtained additional funding to that already raised by their own efforts and converted the premises into a shop, post office and meeting place for the community.
The Litton Community Shop opened for business on 26 September 1999, and was the first village owned and run shop in Derbyshire. During that year, the shop project won a Peak Achievement Award from the National Park Authority. The shop is mainly run by volunteers. It has been such a success that in 2003 it was expanded. A wide range of goods are sold at Supermarket prices and where possible locally produced products are stocked. A newspaper delivery service is operated and visitors can sit outside and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and a piece of homemade cake.
Information from http://www.derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk/litton.htm
The project won a "Peak Achievement Award" in 1999 from the National Park Authority.