SHOP TO IT
Villagers get set to open store
Residents are hoping to breathe new life into their community, by opening a village shop after years without one.
A steering committee has been formed to review plans for a general store in Detling, which would sell food, including fruit and vegetables and fresh bread, and tobacco as well as provide a delivery service for elderly residents and those with mobility problems.
To help make their dreams a reality, the group of villagers created the Detling Community Interest Company last month, and have applied for funding for the £30,000 they need to set up the shop, likely to be sited in a container near the village hall, in Pilgrims Way. It would have a paid manager but be operated by volunteers.
Richard Finn, chairman of the steering group, said: “The shop is not only to provide a service for the people of the village but a place where people can gravitate to a social centre that we’re missing now and, in particular, insure old people in the village have access to a shop.”
The previous shop, in The Street, closed down around Christmas in 2010 and has since been converted into cottages.
Irene Bowie, parish council chairman, says the village has lacked a focal point since the closure of the shop and the school and now relies on its church as a meeting place for residents.
She said: “The parish council supports this to combat the decline of amenities in rural villages and really try to put a bit of community back into Detling.”
Picking up essentials was made more difficult for car-less Detling residents when bus services were slashed in 2016. With Arriva no longer running a route stopping in the village after 9.30am, Kent County Council provided the Detling Shopper Service, which takes passengers into Maidstone, although it runs just three times a day.
Residents can learn more about the shop plans at a meeting at the village hall, from 7pm on Monday, February 19.