Shop may stay shut
13th May 2010
Gazette and Herald
www.gazetteandherald.co.uk
PEOPLE in Bradenstoke face a future without their village
shop after the elderly owner was burgled last weekend.
The Village Stores, which is run by a 79-year-old man
who wishes to remain anonymous, was broken into overnight
on Bank Holiday Monday and £300 cash was taken as
well as the shop's stock of cigarettes. The shop had been
closed for a number of weeks after the owner was taken
to hospital with a broken hip.
He was forced to discharge himself from hospital last
week following the burglary and is unsure whether he will
re-open the shop. Villager Leonne George. 17, said: "I
have known the shopkeeper for about nine years, and he
is such a nice, friendly man."
Lyneham PCSO Andy Singfield said: "The shop owner
was deeply upset by the break in. It was hard enough getting
out of hospital with a broken hip but to come back to this
was even worse. He has been in the village for 40 years
but now feels like he will have to move away. He
isn't sure whether he will open the shop again."
PC Steve Porter added: "We believe that the offenders
are local as it seems they knew exactly what they were
doing once they had got inside via the back door. The
shop is run by someone who is well over the retirement
age who wants to provide a service to the people, so this
is despicable that he has been targeted.
"It is a quiet village, and police and local people
had been keeping an eye on the property while the owner
was away in hospital."
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