Crop Failure

What is to become of the Cider Press Centre in Dartington now that an ambitious scheme to site a local food hub has ground to a halt?

CROP Community Ltd wanted to lease the site and attract food producers and retailers to fill the (mostly) empty buildings.
But the Pulse has learned that a potential deal with Dartington Hall Trust has foundered.

..too many hurdles..

South Hams council supports the CROP dream and Cllr John McKay said that one factor was the loss of a potential anchor tenant, The Almond Thief bakery, which went into voluntary  liquidation in April. “After many months of negotiating with DHT it became apparent that the scheme faced too many hurdles to make it commercially viable,” he said.

“Really now I am trying to build up a pipeline of businesses so when we have a venue we are ready to go,” Cllr McKay said.

The council believes there are many local growers who could benefit from a central distribution and retail space, which would boost the local economy and give the Trust secure tenants.

 

A Trust spokesperson said the inability to secure anchor tenants became protracted and ultimately the deal with CROP was unable to proceed.
The Trust continued : “DHT is now in discussions with a number of potential partners to develop short to medium term options that will serve the community and local businesses better than the present format.”

CROP is now looking for another place to set up, hopefully still in the Totnes and Dartington area.