Berkshire village shop named Britain's best

The village shop at Hampstead Norreys near Newbury has beaten away fierce competition to win the equivalent of the rural Oscars in a national competition.

Back in 1998 the then village shop was due to close, so the residents banded together and decided to do something about it.

The new shop opened its doors eight years ago and now its been named Britain's best village shop.

The shop is mainly run by volunteers with more than 50 workers sharing the various duties.

One says: "Everybody in the village appreciates that we're here and that they can come down and just have a chat, basically."

The volunteers are on an anti-plastic mission with choices if shoppers want an environmentally-friendly alternative.

And it has become a collection point for the plastics that residents can't recycle, with rubbish taken away to specialist sites.

As well as a busy cafe, the premises is used by local charities to run recycling workshops.

Volunteers say it is that strong community feel as residents muck in make sure things run smoothly, that earned them the title Best in Britain.

Employee, Nathaniel Gate says: "There's a lot of people in a village like Hampstead Norreys, who don't want to go out to some retail park or to some supermarket. They want to shop locally, but they want to have the full breadth of products and they want to be able to shop ecologically."

  • Watch Penny Silvester's report below