Girls' Night Out at Colston Bassett Store brings in the cash for charity

A fifth annual charity event held at Colston Bassett Store and Garden Café raised just over £1,200 for Skcin, the Nottingham-based Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity.

It brings the total raised for different charities over the years by customers and friends of the store to approximately £5,000.

This year’s Girls’ Night Out event attracted more than 100 people and featured a host of stalls selling a wide range of accessories and gifts, including jewellery, bags, chocolates, table decorations, beauty treatments and other treats.

The money collected will be handed to the charity set up by family and friends of Karen Clifford, with help from medical professionals at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, which aims to raise awareness of skin cancer and provide funds to treat sufferers of the condition.

“We are delighted to have raised so much money for Skcin and to have held such a popular evening, which has now become a firm favourite on Colston Bassett Store’s calendar,” said Martin Lindsay, who runs the store and café restaurant with wife Jan.

http://www.colstonbassettstore.com/

Evening openings for Colston Bassett Store and Garden Cafe

Award-winning Colston Bassett Store and Garden Café is opening a new chapter in its life following the closure of the Post Office last year by welcoming customers and diners during the evening.


The gourmet food and drink store and café restaurant will be throwing open its doors until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays from November 20th. It will also be introducing twice-weekly wine tasting evenings at the same time to introduce customers to its collection of around 80 different wines.

“It’s been a while coming, but we are delighted that we can now offer diners the chance to experience our popular café restaurant in the evenings,” said Martin Lindsay, who runs Colston Basssett Store with wife Jan. “As the entrance to the café restaurant is via the shop we’ve decided to keep the store open too until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays and offer wine tasting sessions at the same time.”

The couple believe opening their café restaurant in the evening two nights a week will fill a gap in the market and cater for the growing trend of ‘early evening eating’.

“Since we opened the café in 2007 it’s become very popular during the day, and it’s partly down to customer demand and partly because we have now lost the Post Office at the store and we need to do all we can to make the business as viable as possible that we have decided to open in the evenings,” said Martin.

“The closing time of 10pm has been chosen to reduce any disturbance to residents, but also to make the most of the modern trend of early evening eating. We’re on the commuter route into the Vale of Belvoir, are fully licensed and we can also accommodate disabled customers, including those in powered wheelchairs.”

Wine tastings will also be on offer every Friday and Saturday evening from November 20th to give customers the chance to try before they buy and discover exciting new wines.

“We want to offer our customers the chance to try new wines and to discover wines that suit particular dishes or meats,” said Martin.

Martin and Jan expanded and renovated the building, which dates from the 17th century, to create a chic deli offering cheeses, meats, wines, beers, breads and a variety of other specialist and local products, which they opened in 2004. It has since expanded its range to include gifts, cards, homewares and jewellery.

In 2006, it was voted the best village shop in the East Midlands by a top team of foodies, including Heston Blumenthal, Henrietta Green and Nick Nairn. The shop was given the accolade in the BMW 1 Series Good Food Ride book which highlights the best places to eat, shop and visit in the UK if you’re a foodie fan.

Martin and Jan opened their stylish Garden Café in 2007 as a result of customer demand.

Charity evening returns to Colston Bassett Store

A village store which has raised thousands of pounds for different charities over the past few years by staging accessory evenings will hold its fifth event on Wednesday.

Colston Bassett Store is running a ‘girls’ night out’ on November 11th from 7.30pm to 9.30pm to raise money for Sckin, the Nottingham-based Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity.

The charity, set up by family and friends of Karen, with help from medical professionals at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, aims to raise awareness of skin cancer and provide funds to treat sufferers of the condition.

Colston Bassett Store’s event will feature a host of stalls selling a wide range of accessories and gifts, including jewellery, bags, chocolates, table decorations, beauty treatments and other treats.

“We love hosting our ‘girls’ night out’ because it is a bit of light relief and everyone always seems to have a great evening,” said Jan Lindsay, who runs Colston Bassett Store with husband Martin.

“It’s the chance to pick up unusual items not available on the High Street, and to raise cash for charity at the same time.”

Last year’s charity ‘girls’ night out’ raised more than £1,000 for WaterAid and attracted 120 guests.

Tickets are £7.50, which includes a glass of sparkling wine and are available from the store in Church Gate, Colston Bassett.