A HEREFORDSHIRE village shop will be celebrating two decades of serving their community next month.

On December 17, Hopes of Longtown will celebrate 20 years in business in the south-west Herefordshire village.

When the village shop in Longtown closed Christine Hope, backed by her parents and now business partners Jenny and Philip Hope, developed Hopes of Longtown on the family farm in 2001, seeing an opportunity for a vibrant village store which could serve its local community in a variety of ways.

More than just a village shop, Hopes also provides support by acting as a local food bank and offering a refill service to allow people to shop in an environmentally friendly way.

More recently, they have developed a Covid secure shopping environment to suit their customers differing needs, offering an individual appointment service to allow customers to shop at their leisure without feeling pressured.

The Post Office, which opened at Hopes of Longtown in 2003 is an essential service for this rural community, providing a much-needed banking service at a time when an increasing number of banks are closing their doors in rural towns.

The shop also aims to support local producers and businesses, a spokesperson said, encouraging customers to shop locally to help sustain and create jobs in the area, with produce from within 30 miles of the shop signposted so customers can easily see which products come from the local area.

Crucial to the success of Hopes of Longtown is its staff, a passionate team of people who value their community.

During the recent pandemic the team went above and beyond for their customers, supporting them in whatever way they could, ranging from a quick chat, to taking their orders over the phone and delivering them in person on the same day.

The business has acquired many awards and accolades over the years, but Christine prefers to measure success by how happy her customers are.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, there will not be a birthday party, but rather some small gestures to celebrate 20 years in serving a rural community.

Christine, Jenny and Philip said: "We’re over the moon to reach this milestone! We’ve come a long way and couldn’t have done it without the support of the local community, and members of the family coming to our rescue."