The Buxted Inn - Sussex Business Heroes
The day after the restaurant and pubs were forced to close down, Nick Bolton owner of The Buxted Inn set up a not-for-profit food distribution centre utilising its current suppliers to get food out to people.
They deliver to the 7 local villages (Buxted, High Hurstwood, Five Ash Down, Maresfield, Hadlow Down, Framfield & Blackboys) for anybody who is self-isolating due to age, health or showing symptoms. This is an area of around 15,000 residents.
They have built up a team of volunteers that take orders, process shopping and deliver food, medicine, toiletries, etc to local residents on a next day basis. They have so far delivered over £10,000 worth of supplies to over 200 households with over 500 deliveries.
This not only helps the residents but also some of the local suppliers who had previously relied on supplying the decimated restaurant sector and seen there businesses take a massive hit. This is all only been possible with a team of volunteers drawn from the restaurants loyal customer base and the local area. So many people have been so kind to donate either their time or finance. Any donations are going towards paying for food boxes for those that have been hit by financial hardship due to COVID-19.