Two new businesses have made Bishops Castle their home.

Shropshire Star

We catch up with two new shops that have opened on Bishops Castle High Street, next door to each other too.

Transcript

00:00So Georgia, we're here in Bishop's Castle and a new business venture for you?

00:04Yes, definitely.

00:06What's it called?

00:07It's called Snowhouse Stitching and I had the idea to open a shop about six weeks ago.

00:12Yeah, so it's going to be a bit of haberdashery, mainly alterations, that kind of stuff?

00:19Yeah, the original idea was repairs and alterations because I've been doing that for seven years

00:25and then I thought actually I love rummaging in my baskets for bits of buttons and zips and things

00:31and other people might like to do that. So we buy and sell haberdashery.

00:36Yeah.

00:36And it's all pre-loved. I do get new stuffing because sometimes you need a better cotton.

00:41Yeah and you're a local girl, you live just down the road there?

00:43Yeah, I live just down the road. I've been in and around Bishop's Castle for 12 years now.

00:48Cool and you were saying, yeah, you've been doing the operating this business from home

00:53kind of for a while, haven't you? You're no stranger to the game as such?

00:56No, no stranger to the game. I started off at Walcott Hall repairing and

01:02mending and making do there and then recently I find I have two workshops in my house,

01:08every cupboard's full of fabric and bits and bobs and it was time to bring it out to the public.

01:13So you've got this business opening here and actually at the same time almost,

01:17we've got a new business next door as well. So Hair and Beauty, is that right?

01:22Yes, we've got Hair and Beauty. It's Emma's, she used to have Bubbles but she's teamed up with a

01:28lovely lady called Tasha and they now do Nails, Beauty and Hair and this whole building originates

01:35from the early 1700s and the landlords at the moment bought it in 1968. They're opening on

01:42Saturday. We had a street party with Buskers and Prosecco and it was just fantastic.

01:48Great stuff. It's a nice close-knit community here at Bishop's Castle, isn't it?

01:52It really is. Everybody looks after everybody else. You can't walk down the street without

01:56having a conversation about everything. I used to run a care business in the town

02:02and I had my snail logo on my t-shirt and you know, you just get to know a lot of people all

02:07across all ages. Where does the snail business come into it then? In 2017, just before the

02:14stitching started, I lived in a static caravan just outside Bishop's Castle and my friend called

02:20it the Snail House and because it rhymed with stitching, it stuck. And there'll be special

02:27t-shirts available with the nice cute snail logo on if people want to get involved. Absolutely.

02:33My friend who lived in the town, his name's Mud, is a tattoo artist and he trained around that time

02:40and I said, Mud, can you tattoo a snail on my ear? And we spent two hours designing the snail

02:46and that's the snail that's on my t-shirt, on my ear, on my new tattoo, on the shop.

02:53And a snail is all about mindfulness and going slowly and thoughtfully and I like to put that

03:00into my work. And there used to be a sewing shop on the Hoy Street but not for a while so it's a

03:05welcome addition for people, isn't it? Absolute welcome addition. The amount of craft clubs that

03:09we have in this town, as I say, for all ages and I want to encourage young people as well and

03:16so I run sewing lessons for young people and they come to me with a project and I

03:22can teach them how to use the sewing machine and it's a really useful tool.

03:39Hello ladies, how are you? Very good, thank you. So you're having your

03:54party done, so you're a customer and Emma, this is your business that you run with

04:00your colleague Tasha? That's right, yes. And so great new addition to the Hoy Street, yeah?

04:05For sure, definitely. Literally just opened? Saturday. How did this Saturday's opening go?

04:12Very good, yeah, really very good. And it's quite exciting for the town, isn't it really? We've got

04:16you and next door. So you'll be offering anything a beauty salon should be offering, is that how it

04:24works? Yeah, everything, hair to nails, to lashes, to toes, everything. Fantastic. And did you have a

04:34business in the area previously? Yes, yeah, I've been in Bishop's Castle 24 years. Wow, okay, cool.

04:43It's just that Tash and I are joining forces. Fantastic, and is she looking after you? Very much.

04:50She is, that's good. Right, well I'll leave you in peace then. Cheers ladies, thank you.

04:58Just checking out the lovely tattoos here,

05:01beautiful work. And it's a bit of a bit of a story as well, a health story as well.

05:06There really is, because this is my other tattoo. Ah, okay, yeah, I recognise that logo. Breast Cancer

05:14Charity. So six or seven years ago, here comes this snail. Two years ago, diagnosed with breast cancer.

05:22Yeah, pretty difficult as everybody knows. Last year, we're getting over it, I get this tattoo,

05:31my friend Mud designs it for me. Yeah, I had to have all my hair cut short and I thought I'm going

05:36to detract attention with my tattoo. Yeah, and then this year my health and fitness came back

05:43and I said we've designed another tattoo and this is an evolution tattoo. Yeah, that goes from the

05:50original snail and this is the healing process. It goes up into the solid snail, which points

05:59towards my heart. But because I'm a lively adventurous sort, the snail has fallen into

06:06a dandelion and all the dandelion seeds are off on an adventure. And this shop is my next adventure.

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