A SHARE offering for villagers in Kilve went live on Monday (June 1) to support a £130,000 project for a community shop and raised nearly £4,000 in the first 24 hours.

A community shop committee, which now has its own website, has been working for the past year to replace the village shop and Post Office which closed in February, 2025.

Committee chairman Jim Morris said applications had been made for grants of £50,000 from the Somerset Community Partnership and £22,000 from the Fairfield Trust.

Mr Morris said: “We expect these grants will only be released if we can raise £20,000 through the share issue.”

The Hinkley Point C Trust had approved a grant of £50,000 for the community shop, but to access the money the committee needed to show it had the support of the communities which would be served by the shop.

Mr Morris said the committee’s first grant of £2,000 from the Fairfield Trust allowed it to start environmental surveys needed for a planning application to build the shop in Christopher Robin Park, next to the village hall car park.

Shares cost £1 and the committee has set a minimum investment of £10 and maximum of £3,000.

Mr Morris said the online share offering was intended to show there was widespread support in the community for the project.

All shareholders would be members of the not-for-profit Kilve Community Shop Benefit Society and have a say in how it was run and become ‘part of the reason it exists’.

Mr Morris said: “Each person who buys shares will get a vote in the running of the shop.

“Regardless of the number of shares owned, each member will have an equal right to vote at each annual members meeting on how the shop is run and will also be eligible to vote and stand for election for the management committee.

“The shop that was here before turned over £350,000 in its final year.

“The demand is there.

“The community is ready.

“We just need to build it.

“The shop will stock everyday essentials, fresh produce, local farm products, and household goods, with a particular focus on supporting local suppliers.

“It will be run by a part-time manager and a trained volunteer team, located centrally in the village and open seven days a week.

“Beyond the retail offer, it will be a place for people to connect, something that matters as much as the bread and butter it sells.”

Mr Morris said the village shop closure left a community of about 1,000 people, many of whom were elderly and without their own car, facing a six to 12-mile round trip for a pint of milk along the A39 road which was not safe to walk, and with no reliable public transport.

He said: “For some residents, it meant going without.

“This is our chance to bring it back.

“Not just as a shop, but as something better, a community-owned hub that belongs to everybody who uses it.”