Warm Shops Campaign
During the winter of 2023/24 we are running a Warm Shops campaign.
The aim is to encourage shops to close their doors, preventing heat loss to the environment. With the resulting benefits -
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✔ Slash heating costs!
✔ Keep shoppers warm!
✔ Keep shop staff warm!
✔ Contribute to reducing climate warming!
Newbury Friends of the Earth is encouraging shops in Newbury to keep their doors closed during winter, to reduce energy losses. Look out for the stickers and posters on shop doors around the town. The ‘Warm Shops’ campaign was unveiled at Nature’s Corner, Northbrook Street in late September 2023.
Participating shops are displaying a poster in their window and a broken globe transparency image close to the handles on doors. The window posters explain to shoppers why the doors are closed. A second poster is given to shop managers for their staff rooms to inform their employees of the benefits of this action.
Newbury Friends of the Earth coordinator Dr Susan Millington, said ‘Look out for images of a fiery world broken in two on shop doors in town. A poster alongside explains that the shop is keeping their doors closed to prevent heat escaping, but welcomes shoppers to come inside.’
Becky Scott, manager at Nature’s Corner said ‘Keeping our doors closed keeps our shop warm for both customers and staff, and reduces our energy consumption and costs. Of course, we want all our customers to feel welcome, so if you have any difficulties with access (for example, you have a buggy or you have a disability) our friendly and responsive team are here to assist you at any time.’
Clive Williams, campaign lead for Newbury Friends of the Earth commented ‘Last winter I saw that lots of the shops in town had their doors open, even in the coldest weather. We want to help local shopkeepers and shoppers to reduce energy wastage. Research* has shown that shops can save up to 54% of their overall energy expenditure just by keeping their doors closed, saving up to £3.5 billion at 2023 prices, and reducing the country’s overall energy usage by 2.5 per cent!’
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He continued ‘We are hoping that all shops will engage in this campaign even if they would normally close their doors, because it will increase public awareness of the climate emergency and show that we all can contribute by careful energy use.’
Have you spotted your favourite shop displaying one of our posters?
Just a few of the many Newbury shops participating in the campaign:
Nature's Corner, Northbrook St
Cancer Research UK charity shop, Market Place, Lisa Bale (Assistant Manager)
Pageant Party shop, Cheap St, Mandy Sylvia (owner)
This project has the support of Newbury BID, who are promoting the campaign to senior managers. We intend to expand the reach of this work over the next months and years to other towns in Berkshire, and beyond!
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Research from Cambridge University in 2010 for campaign group ‘Close the door’ revealed that shops that kept their doors open consumed twice as much electricity as those that did not. Put another way, shops that shut their doors could save up to 10 tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of three return flights from London to Hong Kong - and cut their energy bills in half. And if all retailers followed suit, the country’s overall energy usage could drop by 2.5 per cent.
With the current energy crisis meaning that energy prices are now around 3.5x higher than they were in 2010, the overall figure is likely to be close to £3.5billion for 2023. Put very simply – shops can save up to 54% of their overall energy expenditure just by keeping their doors closed. (2023 figures from the Heating, Ventilation and Cooling Industry website).