Winsford Community Grocery

Over the last two years the volunteers have distributed over 20,000 bags of low-cost shopping to the community, on average saving each customer £21 per shop of surplus food which would have ended up in landfill, this had equated to a £420,000 food savings for local residents who have used the service.

Over the last 6 months the cost-of-living increase has had a significant impact on the running costs of WCG, meaning the long-term viability of delivering this community service was being put at significant risk. In fact, the Grocery was incurring debt and the situation was getting worse.

The Directors reached out to another Winsford based Charity, Changing Lives Together who have been delivering services across Cheshire for the last 25 years and already run another Community Grocery at Northwich, CLT have committed to intervene and ensure WCG continues now and in the long term shouldering the burden of the increased running costs.

Changing Lives Together have the scale and commercial experience to weather the inflationary pressures and ensure the Grocery continues to serve Winsford in the long term. In the short term this may mean some changes at WCG to ensure it remains viable and cover running costs.

David Grocott CEO said

‘The work done by the Directors and Volunteers at WCG has been incredible, they have taken thousands of tonnes of food and prevented it being wasted. As a Charity who is focussed on ReUse we are delighted to help. Our plan will be to invest in WCG to ensure the old Job Centre becomes a Community Centre, offering a warm hub for local residents at a time of rising energy prices and we are also aiming to open the Grocery at least 4 days a week, as well as that we are also talking to local community groups to offer meeting space to the community. We recently introduced new branding to our other Community Grocery which is now ‘The Very Green Grocery’ focussing on preventing food waste and we have seen exceptional feedback from our customers, we look forward to bringing the same exciting food retail shop to Winsford, our organisations home town’

The Directors and volunteers look forward to working with Changing Lives Together to deliver this new look and exciting Community Centre and Grocery to Winsford soon.