Building work on a £200,000 community shop, post office and cafe for residents of a village near Bradford on Avon is on schedule to be completed this summer.

The long-awaited Galleries shop, named after the field it will be built in, will replace the village shops in Limpley Stoke and Freshford, both of which have closed over the last two years.

The Freshford and Limpley Stoke Community Association (FLiSCA), who have campaigned for the shop since 2006, are on the hunt for a shop manager and a residents’ survey is in the pipeline to decide what the shop should stock.

Gitte Dawson, who has chaired the FLiSCA shop committee for almost three years, said: “We have come a long way. We managed to attract some substantial grants which in turn led to generous capital contributions from residents so building on our new shop and café started in January.

“It's already looking nearly finished. We are hoping to open for business sometime in July.”

Outline planning permission was approved by Bath and North East Somerset Council in March last year and full planning permission was granted in August.

FLiSCA was set up three years ago after both parish councils outlined a need in their village plan for a new community facility to serve both villages, as residents had nowhere local to go for groceries.