Our Story
from humble beginnings...
the "shop@stanwick" was born in 2007 after Neil, Steve & Vernon purchased the tired old Post Office. Very quickly the shop was transformed into the village ‘hub’. Good old fashion customer service along with products that their customers really wanted helped create a much loved village shop. Within the first year ‘the shop@stanwick’ was awarded The Countryside Alliance East Midlands Award for best village shop & Post Office. This award has been won for the past 3 years.
In 2011 an opportunity arouse to purchase the Old School in the High Street, Stanwick. The Old School was a beautiful building that need much care and restoration. Due to a new village hall opening the local church couldn’t sustain the Old School and there was a real fear that the building would be closed up and not used. A new roof, windows, structural repairs along with a complete interior refurbishment took 7 months to complete. The boys wanted to ensure that their village had a real part in the restoration. No tradesman more than 5 miles away was employed on the project. Many folk from the village offered their help, from sweeping up, rubble removal to tiling bathrooms and plumbing boilers.
A bright new shop, bigger post office along with a daytime coffee shop opened in April 2012. However it was evident in the planning stages of this new project the village wanted an evening and weekend venue to eat, drink and socialise. Within the Old School an evening bistro called ‘Old School Dining’ opened alongside the shop. Old School Dining offers good hearty food, carefully selected wines with great casual atmosphere. Again the focus was keeping it local. The staff from the old shop grew from 6 to 23 within months, all employed from the village. No-one could foresee the popularity of the venue, Post Office footfall grew by 40%, the Bistro and Café were an instant success, good home cooked food, local ingredients and a good splash of their ‘good old customer service’ has created the ‘place to be’. When asked the boys are so proud of saving an important building a creating a space for their community.
Kul Sidhu, Proprietor
