Store to close as sale fails

A long-running Kidderminster convenience store will be forced to close next year after it failed to sell following two years on the market.

The owners of Lionfields Stores, in Lionfields Road, Cookley, hope to retire next year after more than 23 years at the helm but they have not secured a buyer for the property and have now removed it from the market.

Owners Pat and Tim Harley, who have run the business for the past 23 years, intend to retire late in 2010 and they now plan to convert the building back in to a family home.

The couple already live in part of the building and have now gained planning permission to convert the property back to residential use when they do decide to shut.