Food hub has stay of execution in hunt for new home

The manager of a food hub in Buckinghamshire says it is still looking for a new home after being given a six-month stay of execution at its current premises.

Wycombe Food Hub, which supports 750 people a week, had been told to leave the Chilterns Shopping Centre before Christmas as the site was due to be demolished and replaced by 303 flats.

Its lease has been extended until June, and manager Sarah Sturt said: "We are trying to find new premises, but that will incur a cost unless somebody gives us a building in the town for free or for a peppercorn rent."

She added they were "in negotiations with someone but it would mean we have to find £50,000 a year, which at the moment we do not have".

The hub was set up in response to the Covid pandemic but evolved into a community service. Those most in need can pick up basics like a sandwich from its community fridge, while others pay £6 to fill a basket, which could be worth about £35 in a supermarket.

It also runs a low-cost community bazaar offering clothes, toys, books and household goods.

Among those it supports are people like Maryna who lives in the county via the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

She said: "This place helped our family because we have job, we can volunteer and can get food."

She added that "cultures differ, but here we feel huge support because it is amazing where people try to understand us and try to help us".

A woman called La Fleur, who also shops there, said the hub was "very important because sometimes you come in and get so much for less money so it's lovely".

She felt it was a shame the hub was facing an uncertain future because "for a lot of us including myself, here is where you can come and get a good bargain".

The Chilterns Shopping Centre opened in 1987, but last February plans to demolish it and build 303 flats were approved by Buckinghamshire Council.

Just four organisations remain in the building, with demolition work on the site due to start soon.

Another Sarah volunteers at the hub after getting involved after an extended lockdown for what she described as "multiple illnesses".

She said: "When all that finished, I didn't really know what to do, but walked past and saw they wanted volunteers and thought 'I'll give that a go'.

"I live in the middle of nowhere so don't get to see that many people, so it gets me more involved with everybody."

Sturt said the charity's current home was rent free as "it was given to us by the landlord as part of their corporate social responsibility".

She added that if they could not find a permanent home by June "we have got savings in the bank, so we should be able to continue for a while but on a slightly smaller scale".

The developer Dandara Living has been approached for comment.

Many people using the hub did not want us to use their full names.

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