Food hub appeals for help to move into new home

A food hub that supports 750 people a week is appealing for help from local tradespeople as it prepares to move into a larger centre needing repairs.

The Wycombe Food Hub has to move by 31 July after plans to demolish its current home and build more than 300 flats on the site of the Chilterns Shopping Centre were approved last year by Buckinghamshire Council.

The centre has signed a lease for a new home and plans to offer more activities to become a community hub, but it said restoration work could cost £50,000.

"The sooner we get that help, the sooner we can move in and get it decorated, get the plastering done, get plumbing sorted and heating for the winter," said manager Sarah Sturt.

The food hub, a Community Interest Company, was originally set up during the Covid pandemic.

Anyone who is struggling financially can pick up basics like a sandwich from its community fridge, while people can also buy cheaper groceries that have been donated.

Its new home in Desborough Road in the town has seven rooms, with space for community projects, wellbeing and learning activities, meetings and a community cafe.

Sturt said its new building needed extensive repairs and had not been used for up to 10 years.

She said: "It has been empty for some time so we need to go room by room and put all the rubbish in the bin, all the broken stuff in skips."

"If the rooms need decorating, we will have to give them a coat of paint and some will need doors or door locks or glass window repairs before we can move in."

"Where we're merging four rooms into the shop, obviously walls have got to come down too."

The hub will continue to run from Chilterns Shopping Centre until the end of July, and needs to find extra volunteers to help update its new home over six to eight weeks.

They have urged electricians, plumbers, painters and decorators, carpenters and CCTV engineers to contact them.

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