After extensive building work and remodelling, the Chilcompton Co-op re-opened its doors last Friday to reveal a modern, vibrant interior boasting such features as an instore bakery, with hot food to go, freshly baked bread, an extended range of fresh and chilled products, Costa Coffee Express, as well as the usual day-to-day grocery products.

The store has been extended and completely refitted with energy efficient chiller and freezer cabinets and other environmentally-friendly properties, such as movement sensor lights. In addition to improving the offering and shopping environment, the store has extended its opening hours to 10 p.m. daily, which allows for a variety of Post Office transactions to be carried out for the entire duration of the store’s opening hours.

Manager, Owen Holland, and his team, worked incredibly hard to minimise the store’s downtime and were delighted with the overall result, having waited several years since the last refit. Don Morris, Chief Executive, said: “This was a challenging refit due to the age and construction of the building, but we know how much the store means to the community, so we wanted to ensure that we could improve and extend it to provide the best possible environment for our customers.

“Our colleagues have worked extremely hard to ensure that we didn’t cause too much disruption for customers by getting the store merchandised and ready for trading as soon as was reasonably practical.

“We have had some challenges along the way, and I am proud of the combined efforts of our staff and the great team spirit shown by them to remain focused on the project. We have also been able to implement the latest concept in Post Office services, as well as the installation of a new till system, which can accept contactless payments. The selection of products on offer is on par with a mini-supermarket, rather than your typical convenience store.”

To celebrate the launch of the new-look store, mums and children from Chilcompton Playgroup attended last Friday to receive a donation from the Co-operative Society of £250. Jayne Barton, Chair of the Playgroup said: “We are a volunteer run pre-school playgroup and our aim is to provide a safe, friendly environment in which parents, grandparents or carers can take their children to have fun, relax and make new friends.

“The group runs every term time on Tuesdays between 10 a.m. and 12 noon where we charge a small fee to cover the cost of the hall, snacks and the annual Christmas party.

“A playgroup in Chilcompton Village Hall has existed for a number of years, and was initially run by the Chilcompton Children’s Centre. However, due to the budget cuts in 2013, the Children’s Centre closed the group.

“A number of local parents then made the decision to set up the current Chilcompton playgroup and applied for grants and donations, purchasing a large amount of equipment.

“We are a very popular group and many members come from outside the village – we actively encourage new members.

“Since the closure of many playgroup/stay and play sessions that were run by local Children’s Centres, we really feel as though we are plugging the gap by providing a warm environment for parents and carers to meet likeminded people for support and reassurance during what can be a very isolating time, particularly for new mothers.

“The Somerset Health Visitor/Baby Weighing service has been so impressed with our group that they have moved over to join us in the Village Hall, providing direct access to professional advice once a month.

“The Co-op donation will allow us to purchase some much-needed new toys and games for the children to play with. We are grateful to the Society for this donation and we are looking forward to experiencing the many store improvements at our next shop!”