The Larder at Aslockton highlights importance of the traditional village shop to rural communities
The growing popularity of a village shop highlights the importance of businesses returning to rural communities.
The Larder at Aslockton is a traditional country store, selling fresh produce, baked goods and groceries as well as meat from their recently opened artisan butchers.
Dean Thraves and his business partner Lloyd Corah made the unusual decision to move into the premises on Main Street and start up the shop at a time when businesses, big and small, were finding it difficult to stay afloat and closing down in the wake of the Covid Pandemic.
Against all odds and expectations The Larder has not only survived, it has thrived, currently recording a 30 per cent increase in trade on the previous year.
Dean puts the success down to a few simple reasons, with stress put on the importance of a local shop in rural communities.
“Shops like this are very few and far between these days and we put our heart and soul into it,” he said.
“We had the vision and the experience. I was a baker for 25 years and Lloyd was a butcher for 15 years.
“Now we serve probably three or four villages and people have really bought into what we want to do here.”
Dean said: “We recently opened an artisan butchers up the road which produces all of the meat we sell and we are really committed to sourcing from local and independent producers.
“Take the lamb for example, it was born in Aslockton, butchered in Aslockton and now sold in Aslockton.
“You can’t get much more local than that.”
The shop sources milk from Newark, eggs from Aslockton, fruit and vegetables from Bottesford, bread from Carlton, cakes from Market Harborough and even award winning pies from Nottingham.
But a village shop isn’t just defined by what they sell, but the service that they provide too.
“We’ve been welcomed into the community like we never could have imagined, we get people just coming in to say hello,” said Dean.
“We’ve almost become a social hub for the community, where a lot of people, especially the elderly, can come along for a chat and a coffee or bump into friends they haven’t seen in a while.
“We pride ourselves on good quality, old fashioned service.
“If an old lady down the road can’t get out of the house, we will take her order to her.
“We talk to customers and change what we sell based on what they want.
“It’s about keeping things going in these small villages — I’d like to see other little shops opening up like it was decades ago.
“We try to go above and beyond and I know the customers really appreciate it.”
Customers can pop in to The Larder for lunch and choose something from the deli counter, have a filled sandwich freshly prepared to order or even enjoy a coffee.
As well as fresh produce, the shop offers a good selection of household groceries too, from tinned food and shelf staples to chocolate, sweet treats, drinks and alcohol.