Justin and I started Local Box in April 2020. We were walking down the Belmont Road one day and Justin spun off the idea of Local Box. Committed foodie and long-time business owner/dreamer, I was on board. He started working on the website and tech for a few months and I gathered suppliers.
I was terrified to contact anyone. I didn’t know what I was doing, it was the start of the pandemic and I quit my job. I lay out chocolate buttons on a plate and after every phone call I rewarded myself with a chocolate button. We were welcomed with open arms by some of the most lovely, kind-hearted people who work tirelessly to run our local, small food businesses.
We ran the entire business from our mid-terrace house (very patient neighbours!) and did deliveries in an Hyundai i10 (yes, really). It was a weird set up but it worked and we built up amazing relationships with local food suppliers and found the most incredible, supportive customer base. (As well as Gary our star delivery driver and a million others!)
In January 2022 I ended up in hospital on my birthday and stayed there for 3 weeks, leaving with a cancer diagnosis. I proposed to Justin and we got married on May 5th. But that’s another story.
At first I was determined to come back to Local Box stronger and full of ideas but over the last 5 months, my heart, mind and energy has moved elsewhere. And Justin is non-stop ideas and entrepreneurship. Although it breaks our hearts to slowly say goodbye to Local Box when it was on the cusp of its next big leap, we are so incredibly proud of all we learned and crammed in to 20 months.
We are so thankful for the encouragement we have received from everyone: suppliers, customers and cheerleaders. We genuinely miss you because we built real friendships (and I especially miss my extended chats with delivery drivers). We’ve been flooded by support and good wishes from you all- thank you!
As we bow out of the local food scene (for now), please keep us in your prayers, thoughts, send good vibes… whatever is your jam. Those reward chocolate buttons are now for medication and this one-time foodie gets through the day on Chewits and prescription protein shakes.
Please keep supporting our local food businesses. It’s a hard graft and these people have hearts of gold. Food is political on so many levels and the rising costs reflect that. I know it’s a big ask to keep supporting our food champions right now but I can assure you that every pound you spend makes a difference.
We’ll be about but in the meantime…shop, eat, support local.
Thank you all
Lydia and Justin
