A VILLAGE shop and post office is up for sale after a parish council decided to suspend a bid to buy it and turn it into a community asset.

Orleton's shop, in Kitchen Hill Road, is on the market with agents Ernest Wilson & Co for £445,000.

The agent said the owners of the shop, which has a weekly turnover of £7,000, are selling after 22 years due to ill health.

Ernest Wilson and Co described the shop as a "fabulous opportunity for a new owner to earn £50,000 per annum with genuine scope to increase further."

It comprises a large shop floor selling goods including local produce, a good-sized storage area, and two Post Office serving counters.

A staff kitchen, toilet, and owners' accommodation with three bedrooms, open plan kitchen, dining room, and lounge, are also included in the sale.

A community group was set up in the village to buy the shop last year, saying they feared it could be turned into private accommodation if sold to a private bidder as the owners were looking to retire.

But in January this year, Orleton Parish Council said in a statement that it had considered whether to make an offer for the shop at an extraordinary held on January 27, and had decided to suspend activities relating to the possible purchase of the building pending the potential for a private sale.

"It is understood that the shop and Post Office is to be put on the market, and it is hoped that this will result in a successful private sale," a spokesperson said at the time.