A neighbourhood is watching excitedly as a convenience store is coming to a Petersfield estate to end a four-month wait.

There’s good news in store for Herne Farm residents as the former Co-op on Moggs Mead will reopen next Wednesday (June 17) as a family-run Premier.

Its new leaseholders are no strangers to East Hampshire as the Patels also run the Budgens in Clanfield.

“We went for it because it offers a bit of everything – it came up in the right place, at the right time,” said leaseholder, Pranay Patel.

“We heard things on the grapevine around the time the Co-op was closing so we approached them.

“There were other retailers looking into it. I have to say the Co-op and the landlord made things nice and simple.

“One thing we’ve noticed is that there are a lot of elderly people who have missed the Co-op, and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from people about moving in. We want to make a positive difference.”

The store, which will open daily from 7am to 9pm, will offer the same services as the Co-op along with hot, chilled and frozen food, a fruit and vegetable section and “beer cave”.