By Juliette MaxamA VILLAGE shop set up by volunteers after a post office and stores closed is set to open.Residents in Langham were so upset when their village shop closed two years ago they got together a committee to set up a community shop.

By Juliette Maxam

A VILLAGE shop set up by volunteers after a post office and stores closed is set to open.

Residents in Langham were so upset when their village shop closed two years ago they got together a committee to set up a community shop.

After two years of hard work and fundraising, the £36,000 shop is at last set to open in September.

The latest hurdle the committee had to overcome was meeting new disability access laws, under which the shop had to fit a disabled toilet, hearing loop and appropriate door handles.

The shop will sell branded goods, local produce and offer other services such as shoe repairs. It will be based in a steel cabin, which meets Post Office security regulations, in the car park of Langham Village Hall.

It has planning permission to open from 7am to 7pm everyday, but opening hours will depend on volunteers and when the shop is used.

The committee secured grants from the Countryside Agency and other organisations to finance the cabin and set it up.

Money for stock has been raised through bonds sold in the village, which are redeemable once the store opens for a year.

Everyone working in the shop will be a volunteer - so far 34 people have signed up - and any profits made will be given back to village organisations.

Gill Flack, spokeswoman for the shop, said it is hoped prices would be kept down because of low overheads.

With the shop opening now in sight, Mrs Flack, said: “It's a relief and I'm very, very pleased that after everybody's worked so hard we are going to have something to show to give back to the village.

“We need the support of everybody in the village to come and shop or work at the shop.”

juliette.maxam@eadt.co.uk