Britain’s oldest shop which has been in business for 350 YEARS is facing closure unless a buyer can be found

BRITAIN's oldest shop which has been in business for 350 years could be forced to closed unless a buyer is found.

Brabin's Shop and Tea Room first opened in 1668 as a cloth maker in the picturesque village of Chipping in Lancashire.

During its three centuries of business it has been a bakers, undertakers, general store and butchers.

Current owners Sharon, 59, and Roy Pinkett, 58, have been forced to put it on the market due to Sharon's ill health, but have had no takers since listing it in September.

The couple, who brought the business in April 2014, have said if they cannot find a buyer who is willing to buy it for £120,000 by March 1, they will have to shut up shop.

Sharon said: "We can't carry on any more because of ill-health, I have arthritis in my spine and knees and I have found it difficult to work.

"It is very said as we have worked so hard at it, and if the shop is closed there is no access to the post office.

"This is a great shame and a loss to the people living in Chipping."

The building was first home to a cloth merchants ran by John Brabin in 1668 and when he died his inheritance was put into the Brabin's Trust, who still own the building outright today.

The tea room and gift shop, which has a post office outlet in store two days a week, took over from a six-days-a-week post office in 2001.

Speaking about the shop's history, Roy said: "This shop has literally been everything, you name it has been sold here.

"It was a post office for centuries, then the business before us expanded it into a tea room and then since we took over, we've adapted the tea room and have different gifts in the shop."

Chairman of the Chipping Parish Council, Paul Hunt, is adamant the post office would find home elsewhere in the village.

Mr Hunt, who previously owned the business himself, said: "We won't let the post office go out of the village, if the worst came to the worst, we would have to find another location for the post office."

Brabin's is on the market for £120,000 and interested parties should contact Kings Business Transfers in Preston.

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