Shoppers in Ruddington say the village's independent businesses appeal to visitors and reflect the 'community feel' of the area. With many people praising local independent businesses in a town where there aren’t many “big boys”, to increase footfall some have suggested more parking needs to be introduced.
Ruddington is one of the larger villages in Nottinghamshire which has strips of businesses. Many people shared their favourite independent businesses and what else they would like to see in the area. Hayley Mason, 32 is a nurse.
Hayley has lived in Ruddington for 6 years and shops in the area regularly. She said: “It’s great here, it’s nice that there’s a lot of independent businesses because especially now, you want to support more of those rather than the big brands.”
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Hayley continued: “To eat, I really like Jaspers cafe, that’s a good cafe in the area and then when shopping around, when I have time, I try and get through as many shops as possible.
“We have good jewellers and I’ve popped into Honeycomb plenty of times.”
Honeycomb is a charity shop located on 3 and 5 Church Street in Ruddington. The store sells locally sourced honey as well as second hand books, accessories, clothes and more.
Daniel Lane, 43 lives is local to Ruddington. The social worker says he feels the “community spirit” in Ruddington.
He said: “You go into shops and they’ll either remember your name, face or both. When you come to Ruddington, you feel the community spirit, it’s your typical village that’s close knit and quiet.”
Daniel continued and said: “There does need to be more parking for shoppers in the area, luckily I can walk to the main areas but that isn’t the same for everyone. My wife after she’s been shopping needs to load it all in the car and sometimes, there just isn’t any parking spaces to do that.”
Paula Kershaw is the owner of Ruby Rae. The ladies boutique is located on 9 Church Street.
Paula who is from Keyworth has been at the store for around 4 years. Paula also feels a sense of community where she works, Paula shared some of her favourite places in the area.
She said: “The pubs are fantastic, we have the Whitehorse, Red Lion, Framebreakers, the Ruddington Arms and Red Heart. There’s a fantastic Indian and an old-style Italian, we have a good chippy too.”
Paula continued: “It’s a lovely village of community, people here are great.” At Ruby Rae, a range of products are sold.
Currently, jeans and handbags are extremely popular. Paula continued: “Parking is a problem but people do tend to travel and come down. The parish council bought the old community hall but really, it needed to be flattened so people can park.”
Cynthia Jarret, 67 is now retired. Cynthia has always lived in Ruddington.
She said: “It’s lovely here. All the businesses seem to do well, there’s always people in our shops.
“The only thing I don’t like is that CoOp is too expensive, a more central bargain shop where you can get what you find in CoOp would be great. I’m looking forward to seeing what will be done with the village Butchers, that’s a big shop that.”
The Ruddington Village Butchers is now closed. Located on 15 Church Street, the store still has its sign displayed but has been closed for some time.
Samantha Bushwell, 34 a carer. Samantha has lived in Ruddington for 3 years.
She enjoys shopping in the area and rarely goes to town. She said: “Unless I need something specific, I rarely go into town.
“Shopping here and having a lot of local businesses to support is great. I think it’s underrated here and despite high rents and what not, the shops are still going strong which is obviously really good to see. There’s always people getting on and off the buses after travelling to come down here for what I’m assuming is to look around the shops.”
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