#13: Supermarket Rebel: Ruth Anslow from Hisbe - a podcast by Alex Chisnall

"We started with a problem. With how it is. And we created a vision of how it should be. And I think if everybody did that around something they cared about then the world would be a very different place."

Ruth Anslow is on a mission to create a new type of supermarket chain with Hisbe - How It Should Be.

And Claire Timbrell is also on a mission to change how groups of people socialise with her escape room - The MacGuffin project.

First up is Ruth, who with her sister Amy Anslow, had a dream of how a supermarket should be. They built their brand Hisbe three years before opening their first store in Brighton, with the final £20,000 coming from Gordon Roddick of The Body Shop.

They're a social enterprise on a mission to build a different kind of supermarket by putting customers, suppliers and employees first. They prioritise small, local producers and brands that trade responsibly.

Ruth tells me how they did it and how, with demand from Birmingham to Bournemouth,  they plan to scale the business across the UK.

In my second interview, Claire Timbrell tells me how, when she was training for a triathlon with her partner Gareth Quinlan, and abstaining from alcohol, they decided that there was a severe lack of leisure facilities for adults other than eating and drinking establishments.

They then set out on a mission to change how groups of people socialise.

After a false start when they lost their first venue to a foul waste flood, they secured angel investment, and opened their escape room - The MacGuffin Project.

I went along to find out more - and tried to escape...

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