A temporary Co-op store has opened at a barn in Dedham after the village shop was badly damaged by ram raiders.

The High Street store was targeted on Sunday, December 10, and suffered considerable damage after a black Toyota Hilux was used to ram the building.

The community rallied behind the store and a new shop is now open at the Duchy Barn and will be open for the next few months.

Roger Grosvenor, joint chief executive for the East of England Co-op, said: “With the fantastic support of the Dedham community, we’re very pleased to have been able to open a temporary store in the village.

“The Duchy Barn will be home to the East of England Co-op food store for the next few months whilst we make extensive repairs to our store on the High Street.

“The temporary store is open 7am to 7pm every day of the week, and for those in need of a larger shop – particularly over the winter period – we have a free home delivery service available from our Woodbridge Supermarket.

“This is a true example of co-operation in action, and we’re incredibly grateful for all of the support we’ve received to get the community store back-up and running for both local residents and tourists.”

A spokeswoman for the Co-op said it is hoped that the Lavenham store, which was raided in the early hours of today, will be trading by this evening.

The Lavenham attack is the latest in a series of ram raid attacks with more than 20 taking place in Suffolk and Essex over the past year.