New lease of life for Wolverhampton building as it becomes shop designed to help 'improve lives'

The Victorian-era Queen's Building, next to Wolverhampton bus station, will be used for a new community project that will help people to shop for affordable food with dignity.

On Friday the leader of Wolverhampton Council joined leading figures from the Good Shepherd and the Wolves Foundation, as well as staff, volunteers, ambassadors and service users of both charities at the official launch of the Central Community Shop.

These included Wolves Foundation ambassadors in chef Mitch Lane and former Wolves striker John Richards, while the event saw speeches from Wolverhampton Council Leader Stephen Simkins, Good Shepherd CEO Tom Hayden and Wolves Foundation senior manager Tom Warren.

Built in 1849, Queen's Building had laid empty for several years since being vacated by Costa Coffee.

The shop has also been joined at the same location by a new ‘Pomegranate’ social enterprise café, while the next stage is to develop a multi-use space on the first floor aiming to deliver support and interventions that alleviate poverty, build financial stability and offer training and employability guidance.

Funds raised from the community café will be invested into the Good Shepherd’s free-to-access food and support services and other charitable activities.

The official opening of the shop allowed people to shop for a range of goods, from household items such as beans, kidney beans, sauces and cereals, to a pick-and-mix section where people can stock on pasta, rice and lentils.

Tom Warren said it meant a lot to see the hard work by all involved pay off to get the shop ready to open.

He said: "There's been a lot of work, blood, sweat and tears which have gone into getting to this point and we are really proud of where we have got to over the last three years to enable us to be in this position.

"In the short term, we want every person who has access to this space to have their lives improved by doing so as they will have access to the services where they can continue to improve their lives.

"In the long term, we want this to be a thriving space as we have plans for upstairs to make this a community hub and, most of all, this place is about giving people dignity and taking away the stigma from accessing services that are going to support them."

The shop works on a membership scheme, with shoppers able to turn up and register for an annual membership for £3.

Councillor Stephen Simkins said he was pleased to see the partnership with the third sector strengthened and said the shop was there to give dignity to people in asking for help.

He said: "We want to help people and I think there is dignity in having the confidence to come and say 'I'm struggling, please help me' and I don't know anyone who hasn't asked for help at some point.

"It's important for people to know that there's a space within our city centre that people can have that dignity and feel confident and safe to ask to be pointed in the right direction, which I think the Queen's Building does in leaps and bounds.

"The most important thing in our city is people and this is a facility that people need."

The shop is the flagship store of a network of community shops which offer residents from across the city the opportunity to register and buy food at affordable prices.

It is the result of a partnership between Wolverhampton Council, the Wolves Foundation and the Good Shepherd and will see staff and volunteers from both charities running the shop every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 10am and 2pm.

Tom Hayden said the new community shop was the next step for the Good Shepherd, which has been providing hot meals and crisis support across Wolverhampton for more than 50 years.

He said: "It's the culmination of so much work over the last 12 months, but I think, more importantly, it's the evolution of our services and a different way for us to meet the need of people in the city, so it's really exciting.

"The partnership work is utilising all our different resources, so having an asset like this building is fantastic, as it being supported by the local authority and our expertise around delivering food and financial support, alongside the Foundation's work with Feed a Pack, is really playing to our strengths.

"The shop offers more than just a place to get affordable food as it can help people to access free services and can be a progression route for people to move on and overcome their crisis's, plus the cafe is really exciting as we can offer two people employment opportunities and provide help for people."

The initial opening hours for the Central Community Shop are between 10am and 2pm from Tuesday to Thursday, with an annual membership for the price of £3.