Since the village shop closed in 2020, a group of villagers have been exploring how to create a sustainable community shop and café for Kirtlington. A public meeting was held back in 2022 with speakers from other local community shops and a chance for villagers to ask questions.

Following this event, people were asked to volunteer to help, and a steering group was formed to run the project. Since then we have:

• Worked with The Plunkett Foundation, who provide practical advice and business support to help communities establish and run community businesses
• Distributed a survey in 2023 to every household in the village to determine if people wanted a shop and how they would be able to contribute in terms of buying shares and volunteering
• Developed a Business Plan
• Registered with the Financial Conduct Authority as 'Kirtlington Community Shop and Café Limited'
• Developed financial information including projected set up costs and sales
• Applied for and received planning permission to build a timber frame building close to the Village Hall
• Negotiated the terms of a lease to have the shop and café on the ground floor at the Dashwood. Agreement was reached, but then the owner accepted another offer.
• applied for and received the Standard Mark which ensures we have the gold standard of share offer to reassure our members.
• Granted Advanced Assurance by HMRC which provides a tax rebate on share investment.
• Launched our Share Offer.

And much more - see our Timeline of events.