FOUR out of 10 villagers either do not use Kilve’s village store and Post Office, or spend just a bare minimum when they do, owners Matt and Charlotte Hirst have revealed.

The couple carried out a survey before submitting a planning application to convert the property back to a house.

Mr and Mrs Hirst said they were having to give up trading after 17 years because the business was no longer viable, but they did not want to leave the village..

Now, in a message to villagers they said: “The most important thing to know, we do not want to close the shop.

“The change of use application is just to safeguard ourselves in case we continue to lose money during the winter.”

They wanted to keep the shop and Post Office open, but had suffered financial losses for the past two winters ‘due to lack of local support’.

The couple said it used to be the case that local trade was the backbone of the business and holiday trade was the icing on the cake, but now it was the opposite.

They said: “We did a viability study and found 20 per cent of Kilve residents do not even enter the shop each year, and another 20 per cent spend the bare minimum or only use the Post Office.

“I really, really hope that everybody who reads this gets behind the shop and Post Office and makes the effort to safeguard its future.”