Pompey legend Alan Knight MBE opens Revitalise’s flagship charity shop in the city centre

The ribbon at the shop on Charlotte Street was cut by Pompey legend Alan Knight MBE, a longtime supporter of the charity who previously opened the Wickham Revitalise shop in 2018.

Alan said: ‘It’s a fantastic opportunity for Revitalise to open a shop here, if you look around you can see what you can get here and it’s just a great plus for the city. Not only am I thrilled that Revitalise are bringing jobs back to Portsmouth and the high street, moreover, all of their profits will benefit disabled people and carers who enjoy their much-needed holidays.

‘Anything I and the club can do to help such a great cause is always something we want to do.’

Andrew Pallister, head of retail at Revitalise, was thrilled that the shop is finally open and said it’ll be the charity’s flagship store. He wanted to thank all the volunteers for their hard work getting the shop ready for its grand opening, some staying until 3am this morning working on the finishing touches.

Andrew said: ‘It’s been a lot of hard work for a lot of volunteers, we’ve got so many wonderful volunteers and we still need more if you want to volunteer with us, but this is going to be a big flagship for the charity, we’ve been around for 55 years and we’ve got 15 shops in Hampshire with this being our biggest one and we’re so glad we’re in Portsmouth.’

Revitalise also sells some of its vintage and antique items on its eBay shop, and any stock in store that doesn’t get sold after three weeks gets relocated to a different Revitalise shop in order to keep each location freshly stocked with new items.

All donations will enable disabled people, carers and families to enjoy a relaxing break away at one of the three Revitalise centres across the country, with the Hampshire centre located in Netley, Southampton.

Revitalise centres are an important lifeline in the disability and care sector, with over 12,000 disabled people and carers having used the facilities of Netley Waterside House over the past 10 years, and more than 4,500 breaks being provided each year across the country.

For more information, to make a donation or to become a volunteer, visit revitalise.org.uk.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to our online coverage, including Pompey, for 27p a day.