Our Background

The Beanbag was started around 1975 by Wendy and Paul Osgerby in West End, Witney and was originally called Beanbag Wholefoods. They mainly sold good quality wholefoods from bulk sacks, a help yourself system that many people miss.

They moved to a small shop in the High Street in about 1985, in between Alan Walker's Photography shop and Kempster's Music shop, where it remained for over ten years, Wendy and Paul subsequently sold the shop to ex Police Inspector Smith, he did not remain long and he sold it to American Peter Durnell and his English wife Chrissy, Peter and Chrissy ran it for a year before selling it to Joan and John Bright. When we took over the shop one of the staff was Elaine Treadwell, now Mrs Elaine Zava, who after a couple of breaks still works for us.

The current owners, Joan and John Bright and their daughter Jane, who has managed the shop from the start, took over in Dec. 1987, a time of interesting expansion in the industry and a time of increased interest in alternative medicine.

The Brights moving into the Beanbag coincided with the closure of Kempsters Music shop, a sad loss for Witney.

John would like to pay a tribute to Peter Timms who ran Kempsters for many years, organised many Jazz concerts in Witney and introduced John to proper jazz and to the Beanbag.

In the following years Joan, John and Jane have developed a devotion to the ethos of the Health Food Industry, as epitomised by good independent Health Food Shops, and their general desire to help people.

They moved into their current modern premises in 1997, where they were joined in 2001 by Jane's sister Lisa, who is a qualified Aromatherapist, making it a real family affair.

This move coincided with a change of name from Beanbag Wholefoods to Beanbag Natural Health, a name that the three Js considered to be more appropriate to the new philosophy.

However the shop has always been known locally as "The Beanbag"

The Beanbag staff are currently: Jane Bright, Joan Bright, John Bright DipHFR, Lisa Bright, Elaine Zava, Joanne Wingfield, Sarah Rawlings and Yvonne Gould.

The staff at the Beanbag are happy to discuss any problem and offer impartial advice. We also have contacts with some very expert nutritionists.

We now have two Consulting Rooms upstairs used by a variety of Alternative Practitioners.

The last ten years has seen an ever increasing interest in Wholefoods, Natural Medicine and Organic Food and we at the Beanbag have endeavored to keep up, if not ahead, of this interest.

We stock a wide range of specialist foods and the latest supplements. Plus a wide range of genuinely organic body care products.

We want to help, please come and ask.