A bit of History
In the 19th Century there were several shops and cottage industries in Graffham and at various points in its history there have been two general shops and three inns, several private houses selling sweets, a crockery shop and a butcher's shop. People have made and sold boots and shoes, and pots and until 1939 Mrs Boxall sold "clothes, boots, sweets and tobacco". Both the Woodman (now a private house) and The Foresters (pictured here in 1920's) have contained shops at some time in their history.
More recently the village shop and Post Office were housed at Pescod's. When this became a private dwelling, Graffham villagers got together to ensure that a shop remained in the village. Funds were raised through loans and purchase of shares by members of the public, thus the Graffham Village Shop Association (GVSA) came into being. The old petrol station and garage was bought, and the building housing the village shop was put up in its current location.
Since its establishment in its present location, there have been three owners of the retail business. The present owners re-opened the shop in August 2008 after a brief period of closure.
Initially our shop shared the building with the picture framers, but in 2015 the GVSA undertook building works to rehouse the picture framers, create a maisonette above the shop, and enable the shop to extend across the full width of the existing building.
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The shop remains highly successful and the building works have enabling expansion of the business with a cafe and lavatory facilities.
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The GVSA continues to exist as a non-profit making organisation, and continues to own the land and the building.