Villagers open grocery shop inside phone box

Villagers have fought back against the decline in rural services by opening a grocery store in a disused phone box – and nothing has been stolen even though it is left unattended. The charming facility – stocking milk, sandwiches, newspapers and other everyday items – has been set up inside a vacant red phone box next to the site of the village's former shop. It is operated according to the "honesty box" principle, with residents leaving payment for any goods they take. The tight-knit community of Draughton, North Yorks, was left without easy access to basic items after the post office closed following the retirement of its owners in April 2008. Lewis Cooke, who runs a newsagent which is four miles away in Skipton, continued to deliver newspapers and tinned items on to the porch of the shop so residents could come and collect their goods.

But after BT made the derelict phone box directly outside the former site of the post office available for just one pound last year it was decided that the parish council would buy it and make unique use of it. Mr Cooke, 49, said: "The parish council got in touch and explained that they had got this phone box and wanted to use it as a place to leave groceries and newspapers for people. I said that would be fine and deliver the things to the phone box every morning just before 7am. I put a list of everything that we have in the phone box and people can just call up and tell me what they want. They know that it will be put in the phone box the next day and they can just come by whenever they want and pick it up. Everything has the person's name on it so they can just collect it and go.

"Customers either pay with a credit card over the phone or by leaving a cheque for me. It has been amazing the way everyone has respected the things that are left there. The phone box isn't locked and people can come and go in there when they want but no one has taken a thing, which just shows how honest everyone around here is." A shelf was built into the phone box specifically to hold newspapers, while others display the groceries on offer which include jam, milk, tea bags, sandwiches, butter, cheese and biscuits. Mr Cooke doesn't charge his customers anything extra for delivery, making the journey especially each morning to drop off what his clients want.

Parish clerk Jane Markham, 50, said the unusual telephone box collection system worked because villagers were so trustworthy. She said: "It's a good example of the community spirit of the village, we all look after each other. We talked about putting a lock on it, but we decided it wasn't necessary. People here just want to look after each other. When the weather was bad last winter we all helped each other, some of the roads are quite steep so you have to look after the elderly. At first the telephone box was used just for newspapers, but it worked so well that two weeks ago we decided to try groceries as well." About 70 residents in Draughton, which has a population of just 250, use the telephone box and more are expected to join the new grocery service.