Everybody should have access to good food. Everybody values community. Your Local Pantries provide both – and more.

  • 120+ Pantries across the UK
  • More than 90,000 lives engaged
  • Around 2,000 volunteers
  • Countless moments of hope, connection and community.

10 years after the first site opened its doors, Your Local Pantry is achieving so much more than any of us could have possibly imagined, and so much more even than at the time of our previous social impact report, two years
ago.

Individually and collectively, Pantries are doing so much more than we expected, and so much more than many people perhaps realise.

Members often join for the immediate tangible savings, which are now worth £21 a week on average. But Pantries offer – and members cherish so much more than that! Members tell us of Pantries:

  • enhancing mental and physical health
  • reducing feelings of isolation
  • enabling them to form new friendships
  • explore new opportunities
  • renewing their connection with the local community

Ellie at Paradox Pantry in London tells us:

“Friendships are one of the biggest benefits that people get from the Pantry.”

Would you like to explore setting up a Pantry with us in your community?

A Pantry is:

  • Member-run: Pantries operate along cooperative lines, and many volunteers are members too.
  • Open to all: You don’t need a referral - anyone who lives in an area served by a Pantry can join.
  • Long-lasting: You can join for as long as you want, and can choose to go every week or just occasionally.

Pantries stock an abundant and wide range of top-quality food including fresh fruit and veg, frozen and chilled food, meat and dairy products, and long-life tinned and packaged food.

Members pay a small subscription of a few pounds a week, and in return can choose groceries worth many times more, often saving up to £1,000 a year on shopping bills.

Pantries are just like a shop, in that you choose the food you want from the shelves.

Pantries are run by uniformed staff and volunteers who manage the stores with hand-held technology.

Each Pantry also has a cherished role as a neighbourhood hub, often serving as a springboard to other initiatives and ideas, such as cookery classes, volunteering opportunities, and training.

Pantries have been shown to:

  • Strengthen communities
  • Improve health and wellbeing
  • Improve household finances
  • Prevent waste
  • Prevent hunger
  • Build dignity and agency

Stockport Homes Group first developed the model in 2013, and the Your Local Pantry social franchise is now run by a partnership between SKylight and Church Action on Poverty. Food is sourced primarily through Fareshare, and each Pantry also has its own local suppliers.

If you are interested in setting up a Pantry in your area then we can help, or you can read more about the positive impact of Pantries in our social impact report.