Welcome
Building Bridges Food Hub was set up by a group of like-minded friends in Brighouse who want to make a difference to our community. We saw the invaluable work that local food banks do for the homeless and vulnerable in West Yorkshire. At the time there were no social supermarkets in Brighouse, or even Calderdale.
We wanted to support this work of food banks whilst recognising that not all those in need are out of work and homeless. Sadly many of those families and individuals in need are in work and struggling to make ends meet due to stressors out of their control, such as the pandemic and rising energy prices. We don’t think of ourselves as a crisis organisation, more a charity that helps people struggling to make ends meet day to day. If you are in crisis and are unable to afford food at all, please click here for a list of food banks available in Calderdale. You can also follow this link for information on advice and support available in Calderdale if you are worried about money.
Calderdale's First Social Supermarket and Britain's first online Social Supermarket!
Opened September 2022
We researched different models of providing support and as there was a gap in social supermarket provision we decided that opening a social supermarket would give people dignity, support and choice. Rather than have a parcel made up for them, members can choose the contents based upon their and their families needs. We are a registered charity with charity number 1199710.
Based in Brighouse Town Centre
We also believe that this model is not duplicating crucial food bank services that are already available within Brighouse, but is a natural progression for clients of those services. We are run entirely on the support of unpaid volunteers, charitable donations and grant funding. If you are able to donate or volunteer please do contact us using the tabs above.
Register Today
Customers can register for a life-long membership at a one-time cost of £4. Membership is available to people living locally (in HD6 or HX3) through self referral and applicants can upload proof of receipt of any means tested benefit.
We call our customers ‘members’ and prefer them to complete registration and pay their one off membership fee (£4) via our website here. We also accept referrals from partner agencies, the social sector and the health sector.
Once registered, members can immediately start shopping and can pay £3 for up to 20 items and £6 for up to 40 points (families only). We ask about dietary restrictions (gluten free, halal, vegetarian and vegan) and try to cater for these, but the emphasis is on customers choosing items according to their needs as they would in a shop.
Members can shop once per week and families can order up to 40 points worth of shopping each time. We provide customers with excellent value for money.
Rather than being a physical shop to browse, we update our website with what we have in stock each week with 1 point and 2 point items. Members go on our website and choose up to 20 points worth of items in one basket or 40 points for families. 20 points of shopping costs £3 or £6 for up to 40 points. They can put their order in by Thursday 7pm each week. Their shopping is then ready to collect from Building Bridges Food Hub site on Saturday of the same week 11.30am-12.30pm. We are the first online social supermarket to open in Britain!
As demand for our service grows (and hopefully our volunteer pool and number of donations grow too!) we plan to expand the opening hours accordingly.
Our food supplies come from generous donations from the local community and Regal foods, Lottie Shaw, Lidl bakery, Superpound Store, the Lipstick Project, the Charity Jigsaw Festival and careful purchasing from emergency goods redistribution charities (such as HiS Church Charity).
