Westbury Lions Club’s bookshop will be moving at the end of January to – in good news for regular visitors – a shop just across the road.
Lions president Phil Harris explained, “Following the sad death of Colin Forward, who owned the current premises on Warminster Road and had generously allowed the Lions to use the property on a rent free basis, we were notified that the property was due to be refurbished in the new year and that we would need to seek a new premises.
“Colin’s support had enabled the club volunteers to run the shop for a small return for many years, and we owe him and his family a huge debt of gratitude for their gracious sponsorship of our community activities in this manner.
“Through their waiving of rent on the premises we have over the years been able to use the money raised in the bookshop to support projects in local schools and also to enable us to make donations to nurseries and children’s groups every Christmas with the money saved.”
The new premises are at 6 Warminster Road, next to A Touch of Flair.
The owner has worked with Julian Sandoe and club officers to ensure the Lions can continue their community work by offering the property on a peppercorn rent basis.
This ensures the Lions can continue to pass 100% of the money raised to town projects without the potentially costly overhead of rent eroding the income from the shop.
Being twice as big as the previous premises, the Lions are hoping to utilise the extra space by offering more books and services to residents of Westbury.
“Our newly formed bookshop committee will be working hard over the coming weeks,” added Phil. “To ensure we can fully maximise the benefits of this new premises and gain a significant increase in income from the additional space.”
