Keelham Farm Shop, Skipton: Owners release statement blaming 'food inflation and interest rates' for Yorkshire food hall's closure

The business on the A65 near Skipton shut its doors suddenly last week, with the loss of all jobs, though one member of staff said on its official Facebook page that it was hoped a buyer could be found and the farm shop re-opened.

An official statement has now been provided on the behalf of directors Gerard Downes, James and Josephine Wellock and James Worrall.

The Wellocks are part of a family which made their money in the food industry, starting with a produce stall on Skipton Market before expanding nationally to supply the restaurant sector.

The statement read: “It is with real regret that we announce that Keelham Food Hall has taken the difficult step to close. Over the last 18 months, we have done all we can to try and turn around the business and keep it going, by creating a differentiated local food offering with adjacent services and experiences for customers, rebranding our store, as well as taking action to simplify our supply chain.

"Despite these efforts, a combination of factors including cost of living pressures, food inflation and higher interest rates means we simply have not been able to attract enough regular shoppers to cover the ever-increasing fixed overheads of the store and create a viable business moving forward.

"There are active efforts being made for the business to be taken over to secure jobs as soon as possible. We’d like to thank our customers, partners and suppliers and in particular all of our staff for their hard work over the years."

The farm shop opened in 2015 as the second site under the Keelham brand, which was originally a store on the Robertshaw family’s farm in Thornton, near Bradford.

However, in 2019 siblings James and Victoria Robertshaw resigned as directors, and a year later the Skipton site was sold to Gerard Downes’ investment firm, Growth Partner. James still runs the Thornton shop, which is no longer associated with the Skipton business.

James Wellock and his wife Josephine joined Keelham in the summer of 2022, with the aim of using their experience in the sector to turn the shop around. James’s daughter Sally became the general manager, and innovations included opening a pizzeria called Knead and a wellbeing studio.