WEST Somerset could lose its remaining village shops and post offices if local residents don’t offer more support, a trader warned this week.

Matt Hirst, who has run the shop and post office in Kilve for the past 15 years, said the future of remaining village stores was threatened by crippling fuel costs, lack of support and changing shopping habits.

His warning follows the closure of shops in Carhampton and Washford, a reduction in hours in Alcombe and Watchet post offices and a planned rescue of Stogumber’s shop and post office by the village community.

“We try to be upbeat and positive,” Matt said. “We still have many fantastic customers who go out of their way to support our shop and from May to September we are busy with holiday-makers and passing trade. But it’s during the off-peak months that we can struggle these days.”

He added: During the lockdown we were the busiest we have ever been, which proved that there are enough potential customers in the area to spend money in the shop when they needed to.

“It’s whether or not people are happy to patronise the local shop rather than the supermarkets and at the moment they seem to have forgotten what we did in the lockdown and have returned to the supermarkets.

“A lot of new people have moved into the village and we don’t seem to have the support we once had.

“Without an increase in customer support, village shops simply won’t be able to keep going, particularly if energy prices remain as they are.”

These are our biggest concern. If they remain as they are in another 12 months it doesn’t matter how many people use the shop and post office, it wouldn’t be enough to keep going unless we could generate around an extra £1,000 a week of takings.”

Matt told the Free Press: “I have owned Kilve stores and post office since 2007 and have never experienced so much uncertainty with the future of our business.

Fortunately, we are under a fixed price electricity contract that expires in May 2024. If I had to renew my contract now, I would see my monthly bill increase from £884 per month to £2,693.00 - an increase of 205% or £21,705.00 per year.

“This would result in the closure of the shop and post office.

“The remuneration received from the post office doesn’t justify having it in our shop. It’s open a minimum of 47.5 hours a week and if you divide opening hours by the amount we get paid, it equates to £1.71 per hour.

“We keep the post office in the shop as a service - with more banks closing it’s vital to so many people in our community.

“Most of the new people moving into the area now shop online, and the majority of locals now use us as an afterthought if they have forgotten something from the supermarket.

Matt added: “We find ourselves treading water at the moment - we want to invest in the shop, for example we were looking at installing a hot food to go area with a coffee machine and replacing our old chillers and fridges with more energy efficient modern units. But we would have to sign up to three-year contracts, which is impossible because we don’t know if we will still be trading in 14 months’ time. At the moment I work in the shop six days a week to keep costs down and my wife has a job in Taunton to help with the bills.

“We will try and struggle through the rest of winter and look forward to a good spring and summer with lots of nice weather which will hopefully bring in the passing and holiday trade and see what 2024 brings.

“Communities need to understand the situation and support local business before it’s too late, otherwise I foresee lots of boarded-up shops and lots of applications for planning to convert them into houses. With no government help, it really feels like we are being overlooked and hung out to dry.”