Community bands together to save tiny island’s only shop from closure

Residents on the small Scottish island of Lismore say they would have otherwise had to make a three hour trip to the mainland to buy groceries (Picture: Google)

Residents of a tiny island community have come together to save their only shop and post office.

The store on the Scottish island of Lismore faced closure earlier this year when the local schoolteacher who’d been in charge of running it returned to teaching. 

But after an urgent campaign by the Lismore Community Trust drummed up some £82,000 in donations from 230 backers, plans are now underway to reinvent the place as a central hub. 

The trust’s initial goal was around £70,000 for the purpose of refurbishment and keeping the business running for the next five years. 

This was in order to keep Lismore’s roughly 160 permanent residents from having to make a three-hour round trip to Oban, on the Scottish mainland. 

Lismore Community Trust chair Andy Hough told the BBC: ‘If the store had closed, it would have been devastating for quite a number of services. 

Roughly half of the island’s population turned out for the reopened store’s ribbon-cutting ceremony this week (Picture: Isle of Lismore)

‘We have a fragile population anyway and it would have added to that feeling of isolation. 

‘It could have been the beginning of depopulation. But it was heartening to see people from all walks of life, be that permanent residents or second homeowners coming together to engender that community spirit. 

‘Now people have access to groceries on their doorstep, it is saving them leaving the island on a ferry.’

Lismore Community Transport also generously donated a new van (Picture: Isle of Lismore)

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reopening of the store this week was attended by roughly half the small island’s population. 

The store currently has a number of full-time workers, who will be supplemented on the administrative side of the business by local volunteers.

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Hough added that efforts will be made to ensure the business remains in profit, safeguarding its place on the island going into the future. 

He said: ‘It is not just somewhere where people buy groceries, it is somewhere where people can come, chat, find the craic. 

‘It is as much a service as anything else, but we do want to make sure it does not make a loss.’

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