Village Greens

Prestwich decided in 2014 that it wanted a greengrocer the supermarkets couldn't take away, and more than four hundred residents put up their own money to open one: Village Greens is a community co-operative on the statutory register, governed by a volunteer board answerable to its member-owners, with a small named staff running the shop day to day. The shelves lean local and organic — Lancashire and Cheshire growers first — with a zero-waste refill wall doing steady trade. A move to larger premises with a café has been in the works; the co-op's own site still places the shop at The Radius, and the members will vote with their feet either way, because that is the entire constitutional point.