It’s a village bucking the trend, says resident Jill Learner, who believes recent new businesses opening there are just the start.
“Where High Streets are becoming more and more barren, Lakenheath seems to be bucking the trend, with more businesses opening,” says Jill, a Lakenheath resident.
“Lakenheath is the village on the bend of the cut off channel, that people will only know about because of the American air force base.
“But actually, Lakenheath is a village with quite a lot of amenities.
“There are changes taking place, to regenerate the High Street. Lakenheath in Bloom got underway for the Queen’s Jubilee with a couple of lovely containers"
Jill adds: “But more excitingly we have a new Home & Garden Shop and a beautiful new Tea Room.”
Family run Macs & Co, Home and Garden, is one of the new businesses on Lakenheath High Street.
The shop sells DIY items including decorating materials, electrical supplies, hand tools, garden equipment, bird and small animal feed and more typical household things like kitchenware, stationery, toys and home accessories and gifts.
Owners Natalie and Tony McManus hope that local people will use their store instead of having to go out of the village to buy things and encourage independent shops to open in the village.
The couple had the idea while doing some DIY at home and having to go out of the village to get everything they needed.
Tina’s Country Kitchen & Tea Rooms has also opened.
The tea room originally opened as a farm shop a year and a half ago however the owner, Tina Mullins, opened their tearoom at the beginning of June this year to make it what it is now.
The shop is filled with, by majority, locally sourced culinary products such as the Harkswood wines from Thurston in Suffolk, other alcohols like beer, cider and whisky from across Norfolk and a selection of fresh fruit and vegetables.
The tea room serves a selection of homemade cakes served with hot or cold drinks, they also have a takeaway menu for homemade food.
Tina used to own a tearoom on the East Coast of Norfolk for 13 years before she moved to Feltwell six years ago.
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