Recently the team from Totally Locally HQ visited to photograph businesses for the new website – they had a great time talking to all the business owners and learnt a lot about the strong sense of community that Pickering has. They decided to document the day and all their interesting and warm chats they had.
They started the day in Nosh Cafe, loved by locals, it was born during lockdown “when we all needed a little comfort and connection” and gone from strength to strength ever since. They know their stuff! One way Chris judges a cafe is by their scones and they do a belter. We were snapping a pic of the specials board being updated, sparked up a conversation and it turns out Nathan from Nosh is the local artist that was commissioned for some beautiful outdoor illustrations you can see outside some nearby businesses as well as lots of signage around town. He also created their ace ‘fancy a cuppa one’.
Nathan previously worked in branding/marketing, now the cosy family cafe and helped create the Nosh brand in the first place. He also is a bit of a baking genius combined with a local focus, he bought the oranges for zest and the marmalade from a local businesses that ended up in his marmalade cheesecakes! Other cake names like toffee apple flapjack, plum and ginger crumble make it very difficult to make your choice.
Before we left we had to buy one of his prints of a scone that is now on Chris’s wall back home. On the way out we noticed there was also a takeaway window that seems like it’s also a place you can stick you head through for a bit of a chat as much as a takeaway coffee!
There has been a pet shop where the Pet Store stands for over 50 years! The current owners (Matt and Kay) took over the business in 2016 and really make an effort to stock unique products and support local businesses where they can. They even offer cashback – one way to help plug the gap left by banks leaving the town.
Timm Family butchers is run by husband & wife Chris & Lisa Timm and a small dedicated team (including Nelson the dog). It’s only a few years old but already has a lot of local fans. They sell high quality beef and lamb direct – it’s reared on their own farm just 2 miles away rented from the Dutchy of Lancaster who shares their passion to supply high quality, local, sustainable food at an affordable price Any meats not provided by themselves is sourced from within Yorkshire and their ready meals use veg from the greengrocers next door – all quality products locals can enjoy no matter how busy their lifestyle is. We were mesmerised by the sausage making process happening at the back of the shop and one member of staff even reckoned he could make them with his eyes closed!
We love a good book shop and Pickering Book Tree is definitely a good one! It’s housed in a cosy but spacious 18th century building criss-crossed with original oak beams and hosts book reading/author events, music and other events in the upstairs space. The Book Tree and Yorkshire Quality Books often recommend each other if a new or used book can’t be found in each one! We pointed out some lovely notebooks and accessories by Bookaroo that we had bought previously and were surprised to hear that this company that ships worldwide are actually based in Pickering! They drop off orders to the shop in person.
Going by the name and window display inspired by Hitchcocks “The Birds”, we figured we would have lots of nice things to photograph in the delightfully named Curious Raven but it still surprised us! This quirky shop sells all things metaphysical, spiritual and decorative – chatting to the owners they are influenced by their travels and live to plan their next adventure. We even ended up with some treasures from here, some beautiful carved and painted wooden masks from Bhutan, designed to fend-off evil spirits.
After seeing some scones being freshly baked in an oven and hearing of their famous fluffy pancakes, we had to pop-back to Feast for lovely lunch and great coffee. We were at risk of being offered too much tea as we followed this with a visit to Ivy’s Tea Rooms – named after the owners daughter which is just lovely.
We wish we could describe the amazing smell that hits you when you enter Dales Florist but words would fail us. Another multi-generation family business in town (three this time) with local heritage that goes back 70 years. The wonderful floral displays spill out onto the pavement and brighten up the high street when they’re open.
Reeds, the high street’s newsagents has been going for 25 years as well as Pickering, also delivers to near-by villages. We included a visit upstairs here to photograph all the beautiful gifts and homeware that many might not know exist when they pop-in for a paper.
We get the feeling that popping into Beehive is as much about having a good natter than it is about browsing the salubrious stock on offer! We also are still thinking about the lampshade on display that might possibly world record-breaking – big enough to house 3 lights – designed to highlight their home-made and bespoke lampshades on offer here.
Tucked away on Champley’s Mews, owners of Sentier Boutique and Sweet Temptations left careers in the finance sector and removals respectively to take the plunge into high street shops! One of these was inspired after their grandad gifted a handmade wooden sweet shop complete with tiny jars and scales – sparking the want to make it real ever since! It was a real trip down memory lane to see all the sweets in jars available to buy by weight. Mixed in with these classics were modern twists such a 2 foot gummy worm!
Most towns don’t have a local business like Television House any longer but they are worth their weight in gold! In the age where many of us staunchly buy what’s cheapest online and wait for delivery, we seem to have forgotten what you don’t get when you do this – service and the value of being able to talk to a human being for advice and physically seeing something before you buy it!
Whilst photos were being snapped inside this Aladdin’s cave of a shop, a steady stream of customers popped in to ask for random items and advice. “I don’t suppose you sell this obscure battery do you?” “Yes of course we do” (and gestures to dozens of random batteries behind the counter). A sweet elderly lady wanted to know what headphones might be good to replace her old broken ones. “Do you want wired or wireless?” She didn’t know they could be wireless these days and this could probably stop her dog chewing the non-existent cables! We left the shop with the assistant still chatting to her about something entirely unrelated with both of them giggling about the subject.
Have we simply forgotten how useful a local business like this can be? Television House has been run by three generations of the same family and they love where they live. They offer free delivery and installation on anything over £250 and sell a LOT more than just TVs – all electricals, bulbs, fridges/freezers, vacuums, cameras, coffee machines and cookers. Even after the sale is done, if you have questions or any issues, the team will drop what they are doing to help you out and have been known to do this even whilst they’re on holiday!
Walking into the Yorkshire Quality Books you immediately know it’s not your average shop – we were greeted by walls and walls, floor to ceiling, of used books and a very enthusiastic Les who jumped up from his desk to say “Hi”. When we said were here with Totally Locally, he immediately disappeared in a flash into his store room and retuned with his “best jumper” for the photo shoot and apologised for the shop being a mess – but it looked very organised to us!
On that note, he proudly announced his tagline “there are over 20,000 used books in the shop and if you ask for something in stock, I’ll find it in less than a minute!” This should be written on a sign outside! If something isn’t on a shelf he’ll often disappear upstairs like an excited goat and re-appear brandishing the book you mentioned. He also proudly showed us how all his shop labels are made from the back of Bran Flakes packets.
After turning off some lights for a photo Sarah noticed a spotlight of sun piercing the darkness and asked Les to step into it for one shot….
As we left, a slew of customers turned up and were scanning and prodding books, one stack on top of the shelves caught someone’s interest and before the words even left his mouth, Les had mysteriously appeared from around the corner with a step ladder and mentioned how little the entire stack would cost. Some customers travel from far and wide specifically to visit here and we can see why.
Toni worked at The Old Weigh refill shop (and more we have to add!) for a while before the owner announced that it would be closing. She stepped forward and offered to take it on and the owner even offered a payment plan to buy the business bit by bit.
There is so much packed into this small but perfectly formed shop that it’s difficult to know where to begin – anything you use in your house from cleaning liquids, cooking ingredients, oils, herbs and spices – all available in bespoke quantities to refill your own containers and helping to reduce plastic waste. There were mysterious named paper bags sat on the stairs that lead up to the coffee supplies that we asked about – they were customer orders all ready to be collected and lots of them!
Toni prides herself in being more than just a shop – it’s about the welcoming atmosphere and not being rushed. We were only there a short while but after visitors popped in there were hugs and laughter. We also had a great chat about the characters you see around town – we had just seen a group of bikers all turn up on loud bikes, remove their helmets to reveal they were all retired gentlemen, then they all sat down outside for a nice ice-cream cornet!
Toni presented the King with a Recipe of the Week during his visit to Pickering in June 2023 but it’s not known if he baked it or not!
There was a similar welcome next door in Beckside Giftshop that was filled with delightful gift-worthy items. We had a proper laugh and somehow got on to discussing how back in the day vans used to drive around as a mobile VHS film delivery service before the days of Blockbuster.
It’s difficult to comprehend that George Cooper & Son’s have been in Pickering since 1895! It’s now in the hands of the fifth generation in the family and is one of those ‘they sell everything’ places – from DIY to homeware, cleaning products to kitchens and bathrooms. This business is so vast, even the owner whilst showing us around was surprised by a new bathroom display that she hadn’t seen yet!
Big Bear Bikes isn’t just a bike shop, it’s part of the community. They offer permanent discounts on child’s bikes because they realise how important it is to invest in the health and well-being of our next generation! They have a space out the back for testing out new bikes and host local bike meet-ups.
They also have a wrap-protection machine so you can have your precious bike protected as some do with their cars!
We ended up the day with a cheeky pint in the welcoming Black Swan. Whilst sat near the bar an old-timer having a quiet pint sheepishly approached and asked if anyone could help him with a problem he was having with his phone. One of the barmaids sprang into action and said she was the tech-support and helped him fix his issue. This the kind of community that looks after each other without hesitation!
What happened next
