Hospital patients will get to run their own supermarket if community group proposals are accepted by the council.
Organisers are planning to open a shop dubbed “The People’s Supermarket”, which will allow anyone to take part in the management. And they hope that hundreds of doctors and patients from nearby Homerton hospital will contribute.
Project leader Jessica Green said: “There are loads of people at the hospital and they don’t have the capacity to cater for them all. It’d be good to get them involved and to provide a service for them.”
The community supermarket, set to open on Sedgwick Street next year, will be the biggest of its kind. Members are expected to help stack shelves and serve customers, but will also get to choose what the shop sells.
“We should be able to choose how and where to spend our money,” said Ms Green, “and this will be defined and managed by the people. There is a false economy going on in supermarkets at the moment and people want an alternative.”
The community supermarket project follows the opening in Holborn of a smaller store, which was prominent at the launch of David Cameron’s “big society” programme. But despite government support, the co-operative was taken to court in February for failing to pay £33,000 in bills.
“The overheads are extremely high,” Ms Green admitted. “We’ve never been subsidised, but by Christmas we hope to have guaranteed investment. Hopefully we will open in April with a £25,000 budget.”
