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Chair of London Food Board, Rosie Boycott, is behind the new Community Shop

The first social supermarket has opened in London and will sell surplus food and drink to people in need for up to 70 per cent less than supermarket prices.

Community Shop, in West Norwood, is backed by mayor Boris Johnson and chair of the London Food Board, Rosie Boycott.

It is a subsidiary of food distribution firm Company Shop and will stock surplus food from retailers including Marks & Spencer, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Ocado and the Co-operative. It will work on a membership basis for locals in the south London area.

Its launch – with a further 20 in the pipeline across the UK – follows the success of a pilot scheme in Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire, which opened a year ago.

It has been described by an all-party parliamentary inquiry as something that should be developed to “make a real and positive difference to people’s living standards”.

“Community Shop is tackling the problem of surplus food while giving it real social purpose. Not only do we offer high-quality, low-cost food to people experiencing tough times, but we provide them with the chance to take up support services because they are motivated to do better,” said chairman of Company Shop Group, John Marren.

Tristram Stuart, founder of the environmental campaign Feedback, said: “Like those behind Community Shop, I have seen the huge amounts of food wasted every single day in Britain – before it even reaches people’s shopping baskets.

“We must all do more if we are to change our attitude to wasting food, and the pioneering Community Shop project is leading by example by tackling the problem of surplus food by giving it social purpose.”