A NEW village shop in Maiden Bradley was formally opened by MP Andrew Murrison this week and is continuing to welcome customers.

After the last village shop was unsuccessful, Mel Thomas, chairman of Maiden Bradley Memorial Hall decided to set up a new shop in the hall itself to sell villagers their everyday essentials.

The shop has been trading since the start of the month.

Mr Thomas said: “The shop opening went really well, we always recive great support from Dr Murrison here in Maiden Bradley.

"He said himself that the new village shop is already a phoenix rising from the ashes.

"We decided to set up the new village shop as the old shop had to close as it just wasn’t making enough money.

“However, we are saving money on rent by running it out of the hall, and only need to cover our stock and running costs, so we will see how it goes, but we are already doing better than we had expected and are seeing many customers come to buy their essentials."

The shop is open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.