About Us

The Galleries Community Shop is built, owned and run by the people of Freshford and Limpley Stoke. We are run by a charity called FLiSCA and our profits are reinvested back into the community through a process of grant giving.

The premises has a car park which it shares with the Memorial Hall, a large field and children’s playground close by, and a community garden which grows produce that is sold indoors. We are wheelchair accessible and dog friendly, with toilets, a fresh water station, bike racks, free wi-fi and a community defibrillator on-site. Freshford village has a railway station and is on the No 94 bus route and we are just a few minutes off the A36 that runs from Bath to Frome.

We have a cafe on site which provides a wide range of meals and drinks and is a perfect place for hikers and cyclists to stop for a rest, as well as the local community of some thousand households. Ours is a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere, and a vital hub for the community.

“Galleries Ltd” is an ordinary limited company (No.06700613) which is owned outright by the Freshford and Limpley Stoke Community Association (FLISCA), a charity that re-invests profits from the business back into the community by giving grants.

• Company officers : Patrick Dawson (Secretary), Gavin Bate, Simon Coombe, Patrick Firmin and Pearl Mills (Directors).
• Management Committee (GMG): Patrick Dawson, Candy Harrison, Pearl Mills, Gavin Bate (Chair), Wags Firmin
• Shop Manager: Amy Green
• Volunteer Welfare: Pearl Mills
• Vegetable Garden: Jem Tayle, Fiona Firmin
• Payroll: Orla Morrish
• Cash management: David Lindop

We operate a Reverse Credit Scheme which allows customers to set up an account and pay at the end of the month by direct debit. Many village households avail themselves of this scheme which means not having to carry cash or cards when shopping.

Register your interest by sending an email to david.galleries@gmail.com giving your full name, address and phone number.

Galleries is open for post office services on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9.00am to 12.45pm, including Royal Mail parcel services and with advance notice the facility to pay utility bills, receive pension payments, and collect foreign exchange.

We can also receive parcels for local residents if you can’t be sure you are at home when you arrive; just give the shop’s address and then collect at your convenience.

We also have InPost lockers on our premises for receiving and sending parcels.

Galleries is a hub for requesting and collecting repeat prescriptions registered with Beckington Pharmacy.

Requests can be made by posting a repeat medication slip into the secure posting box in the shop during opening hours. Drop off prescriptions requests need to be made by 11.30am on Tuesdays and Fridays for collection the following Tuesday and Friday respectively .

Prescription collections are at 2.30pm – 3.30pm on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The idea came about because both Freshford and Limpley Stoke had lost their shops; the Limpley Stoke shop closed in 2005, and the closure of the one in Freshford had been announced. A group of people got together and put forward a plan to create a community shop that would serve both villages. The initial public meetings indicated there was a need, and so began the process of applying for grants, fundraising locally, allocating the land next to the Freshford Memorial Hall, and designing the building.

The land itself was donated by Gitte and Stephen Dawson, without whom the whole enterprise would never happened, but planning permission was complicated by the fact that the building was to be built in the Bath green belt, Cotswold AONB and had to be indicative of the landscape setting of the Freshford conservation area. Nevertheless, after an extraordinary effort by many dedicated people, the premises was officially opened on the 12th September 2009 (please see video below) and has since been a vitally important hub for the two villages. It has become more than a shop and a cafe with a post office and a pharmacy; it has grown into the heart of our community, a place where people meet and where volunteers help, a source of pride and identity for the villagers.

Over time, the building has been modified and updated; in 2010 a row of 64 solar panels was installed on the roof to generate electricity for the premises, in 2013 a cafe extension was added, and in 2022 major renovations included an extended cafe area, external covered walkways and a timber pergola. The shop and cafe also features in the Freshford & Limpley Stoke Neighbourhood Plan which mentions its green credentials and this has been key to its ‘personality’, most recently upheld with the building of a community garden which now provides fresh produce.