Farm shop for Skipton will create 60 jobs
THORNTON-based Keelham Farm Shop has won planning permission for its second Farm Shop in Skipton, which will create 60 jobs.
Craven District Council Planning Committee has granted planning permission for the farm shop’s second outlet, at the vacant former Nicholas Smith Garage site on Gargrave Road. Building work will start on site in winter 2013, with the new farm shop and activity barn open for business in autumn 2014.
Following 40 years’ developing a successful family-run business at the original Keelham Farm Shop in Thornton, co-owners and siblings James and Victoria Robertshaw, consider the second site to be a natural expansion of this concept and part of a long-term plan to expand the business to other locations in Yorkshire.
Victoria Robertshaw said: “We knew that Skipton could be the perfect location for our second venture, as the whole area is rooted in values that chime with our own commitment to supporting the rural farming community; for the planning application to be accepted and so warmly received is fantastic news.”
The purpose-built, eco-friendly farm shop will include a bakery, delicatessen and butchers. Eco-friendly elements include a ‘living’ wall of herbs running through the centre of the building, photovoltaic solar panels, a wind turbine, sun pipes, wind catchers and a sedum roof.
It will include an activity barn and an outdoor live animal croft for goats, pigs and sheep, where children can learn about the origins of meat and dairy produce and a café offering hot and cold dishes made from locally sourced ingredients.
Keelham Farm Shop is working on the scheme with Skipton-based planning and development consultants Rural Solutions, Wetherby-based CFK Developments, Leeds-based Humphreys Teal Architects and Leeds-based ID Planning, which worked specifically on the retail aspect of the planning application.
