WeBuyVintage holds over 250 roadshows every month. From village halls, community centres and local venues across the UK - we visit a number of towns and villages daily for our Jewellery & Vintage Roadshows. Our roadshows are more than just meeting people and valuing belongings, however - I’ve always believed that the way we do business should mean something beyond the transaction of a customer selling their items.

Every roadshow depends on a local community welcoming us in. A venue opens its doors to our team, a local business helps spread the word, and people trust us with belongings that can carry real financial and sentimental value. We return to many of these places every few months so we’re not simply passing through. We have a responsibility to behave like a good neighbour everywhere we go.

That’s the thinking behind our Local Matters Initiative: a set of practical commitments designed to make sure the towns and villages that welcome us benefit from our visits too.

A practical commitment, not just a statement

Supporting local communities doesn’t need to be complicated. Often, it comes down to making better decisions about the way a business operates: paying venues fairly, working with independent businesses and being open about what we do.

Our Local Matters Initiative brings those commitments together and gives us a way to measure and report on them. It isn’t a charity or a foundation. It’s a promise about how we intend to do business in the places that host our roadshows - and a commitment to upholding our values, rather than simply expecting people to take our word for it. 

So what does the initiative actually involve?

1. Paying community venues fairly

Village halls, church halls and community centres are important parts of local life. Many are maintained by volunteers, and keeping the doors open comes with real costs. We believe the venues that make our roadshows possible should be paid fairly for their time and space.

That’s why every venue that hosts one of our roadshows is paid at least £200, even if its usual hiring fee is lower, or we use the space for less than a full day.

If a venue normally charges more than £200, we pay its full fee. If it charges less, we increase the payment to £200.

There is no form to complete and no scheme for a venue to join. The £200 minimum will be applied automatically to all existing and future bookings.

It’s a straightforward change, but one that matters. We want our roadshows to contribute to the places that make them possible.

2. Local Business Referrals

Local businesses are often the most trusted source of recommendations in a town. It might be the person who serves you coffee each morning, your hairdresser, the local newsagent or the person behind the bar at your pub.

Through our local business referrals, independent businesses can recommend a nearby WeBuyVintage roadshow or home visit. When a referral leads to a customer accepting an offer of £100 or more, the customer receives an additional £20 and the business receives £30. Each participating business has its own referral code, so referrals can be tracked, and it costs nothing to take part.

The idea is simple: if a local business helps someone find us, we want that business to benefit in return as well.

3. The Local Cuppa

There’s another small change we’re working towards. Tea, coffee and cake have long been part of the welcome at our roadshows, and customers often tell us that these little touches help make a visit more enjoyable.

Wherever possible, we want those refreshments to come from a bakery, café or farm shop in the town we’re visiting, rather than a supermarket chain. We’re introducing this gradually, with the aim of buying locally for every roadshow by January 2027.

One order for tea, coffee and cake might not seem like much on its own, but across more than 250 roadshows a month, those purchases add up and can really give local independent businesses a helping hand.

4. Local Matters Fund

The people who run community venues often know better than anyone where help is needed locally. That’s why, through the Local Matters Fund, each venue that hosts one of our roadshows can nominate a local cause. It could be a food bank, a youth club, a defibrillator fund, a church project or the venue itself.

Each quarter, five causes will be selected through an open draw, with £500 awarded to each and £2,500 distributed in total. That means £10,000 a year committed to local causes. The aim is to give venues an opportunity to put forward organisations or projects that matter to their communities.

We know a contribution won’t solve every challenge a local group faces. But we hope these grants can make a useful difference, and that the nomination process helps support and reach causes chosen by the people who know their area best.

Being a good neighbour is about the whole visit

Our Local Matters Initiative puts a name to things we believe should already be part of running a responsible business. We advertise our roadshows through local newspapers and magazines as well as online, helping support the publications that keep communities informed. 

We also want the experience for customers to be clear and respectful. Our valuations take place face-to-face, in front of the customer. We explain what we’re looking at and make a no-obligation offer. If someone decides to accept, payment is made by bank transfer on the same day. If they decide not to sell, that’s absolutely fine too.

For people who can’t easily get to a venue, we can also arrange free home visits wherever possible. And because our buyers work in the regions they serve, they bring local knowledge to every roadshow they attend.

None of these things should be seen as a favour. They are part of the standard we believe customers and communities should receive.

We’ll report on what we do

Trust is something a business has to demonstrate, not simply claim. That’s why we intend to publish updates on our Local Matters Initiative every quarter, including the commitments we’ve delivered and the figures behind them.

As of August 2026, we had paid more than £336,000 to local venues during the year, and 1,150 local venues had opened their doors to our roadshows. These figures reflect the scale of the network that makes our work possible - and the responsibility that comes with it.

Reporting matters because it gives people a way to see whether we’re doing what we said we would do. The initiative will evolve, but our aim is to keep the commitments practical, clear and accountable.

Every town we visit should be better off for it

WeBuyVintage only works because communities welcome us. A venue opens its doors, a local business tells someone we’re coming, and a customer brings in something important to them and trusts us to give it a fair valuation. We return to the same towns and villages multiple times throughout the year, so we are committed to maintaining the values of a business that intends to be around for the long term. 

That’s what Local Matters means to me. It’s about paying fairly, supporting independent businesses, helping local communities and investing in important causes. 

We’ll keep sharing our progress, and we will continue to welcome conversations with local communities that would like to find out more about our Local Matters Initiative.