Breathing new life into village assets

Historic Aberford was once home to several pubs and shops and for the first time in nearly a decade now has both with the opening of the Village Shop and Coffee Shop next door to the pub, the Arabian Horse.

- by Harriet Sutton

Mark and Gemma Hodgson, the couple who reopened the pub just over 18 months ago, have now reopened what was the village store as the Village Coffee Shop, serving coffees, teas, soft drinks, sandwiches, salads, pies and also essentials such as bread and milk.

“It's taken a lot of hard work,” says Gemma.

“We wanted to put a different twist on the village shop and thought a coffee shop with some things people run short of might work best.