A VILLAGE convenience store serving a Teignbridge community is to close leaving the fate of the Post Office up in the air.

The closure of Central Model Stores in Abbotskerswell will leave the village without a local shop and, potentially, without a Post Office, as the branch is based out the store on Slade Lane.

The closure is expected on February 29.

Abbotskerswell Post Office provides the services expected of a local branch: cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque deposits, bill payments and top-ups and so on, services that villagers may have to travel elsewhere for come March, though it is not clear if the Post Office will continue.

In Ipplepen and Kingskerswell, for example, the respectives post offices remained open in spite of the shop they were based in closing.

Should it close, however, the nearest branch is in the SPAR toward Ipplepen or, failing that, Newton Abbot.

While many in Abbotskerswell have expressed their sadness at the announcement, it comes as an especially bitter blow for the elderly, who are well represented in the village; a trip into Newton Abbot can prove challenging for those with reduced mobility.

‘The Post Office has always been the hub of villages for many decades - what has happened?’ one person said.

‘This is dreadful news for all the villagers’ said another.

‘They just cannot compete with the likes of Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury’s - it is a sign of the times, sadly’ said another.

It is not uncommon in these scenarios for villagers to rally together and save their local shop and, by extension, their Post Office.

Central Model Stores underwent a change of management in recent years, and ever since many villagers claim it is no longer the award winning shop it once was.

In 2020 the shop saw off more than 100 rivals across the country to scoop Bestway’s award for ‘Best in the West’.

Fast forward to the present day and one villager tells the Mid-Devon Advertiser that the shop has been without milk for a week.