There was standing room only when villagers at Broadwindsor held a crisis meeting over the fate of the village shop and pub. Around 200 people crammed into the Comrades Hall and pledged to fight to keep the facilities going.
The shop will open for the last time on Wednesday 31 August. Owner Alistair Boyd, who tragically lost his wife last year, has decided to close it after the shop failed to reach the reserve price at auction.
Meanwhile, Sam and Sandra Brooks, licensees of the village’s only pub, the White Lion, are leaving at the end of October.
Palmers Brewery says there are no plans for long-term closure although it could be closed for a short while until they find the right landlord.
Local resident Margery Hookings said: “”Without the shop and the pub, this village will lose its vibrant heart,” said
“There was a real show of strength at the meeting and a very positive feeling that if everyone works together, we can get through this and be an even stronger community.”
A questionnaire will be circulated around the village and surrounding area to canvass support for action to save the shop. This could include buying the premises and run it as a community shop along the lines of Thorncombe and Bishop’s Caundle.
Some grant funding might be available, as well as a loan from the district council. But the community would need to raise about a third of the total amount.
Other ideas were a mobile shop, a temporary shop in the Comrades Hall and a facility in premises in the centre of the village currently used as a Saturday morning coffee shop run by the church.
The meeting was chaired by Fraser Hughes, who stressed he was speaking as a concerned individual rather than as a parish councillor or parish plan co-ordinator.
Also at the meeting were district councillor Jacqui Sewell, county councillor Rebecca Knox and Rachelle Smith, from Dorset Community Action.
Mr Hughes said: “I think it’s important that we should try to save our facilities. If there’s not the will or there are practical reasons for us not to do it, at least we’ve tried and can’t say ‘if only’.”
