New Malpas Londis owners will keep family feel after taking over

Anthony Caddy, the new manager, works for Amacore Inc, who have leased the franchise of the Londis, in Old Hall Street, to Nisa.

He has been there to oversee the transition from Nigel and Joanne Owen, the previous owners for more than 20 years.

Joanne’s parents owned the store before them but Anthony has insisted it will be business as usual with the new owners, as they strive to stay part of the community.

“We have all got on really well and the transition has been brilliant,” said Anthony.

“Nigel has still been here almost every day and has been really keen to help out.

“It will be same as usual. We’ll have the same suppliers, the same produce with one or two changes depending on what’s available, and we’ll be providing the same service to the village.

“The butcher will still be the same and we’ll keep the paper services as well.

“We want to keep donating to the groups in Malpas, such as the OPAL club and other community groups.

“We have still donated to the Lions, and at the recent Christmas Fair we donated chocolate for kids.

“The Post Office will be staying too. Everyone has been really friendly to use in the village.”

Joanne and husband Nigel are looking forward to seeing what the future brings for them once Nigel completely retires.

She said: “We bought the shop from my parents in 1998 and they had had it for 14 years.

“It’s been in the family for 34 years so it very much was a family business.

“We’ve retired because we think it’s time for ourselves. We felt we have given a lot of service to the people of Malpas and to the village.

“We have been looking froward to some retirement time ­– it was time to move on.

“That said, Nigel has stayed on to help out while it moves over, so it might be some time before we can both move on.

“We’re looking forward to seeing what the future brings to us.

“I think we’ve done good service to the village and we always employed people from Malpas, as well as our own daughter.”