UPHAM residents are planning a public meeting to try and save their last village shop.

Lower Upham Stores and Post Office faces closure but parish chiefs hope residents will resolve to run it themselves at a summit this month.

Owner Gary Dhatt says roadworks have forced him out of business by restricting parking.

Parish clerk Anne Collins said the public meeting on April 20, “will give the residents the opportunity to see what they’d like to do, whether they’d like a community shop.”

She added: “There might be nobody that wants to run it – we don’t know. We’re hoping that somebody might come forward.”

Many elderly and immobile residents will face long journeys to collect pensions and groceries if it closes on May 17 as planned.

Winchester City Council is currently deciding whether to list the shop as a community asset, which would give locals six months to prepare a takeover bid. A decision, which will rule on the building’s benefit to the village, is due by April 30.

Current community assets nearby include Bishop’s Waltham’s Youth Hall and NHS Physiotherapy Clinic.

Upham Parish Council is also planning to nominate the village hall, recreation ground, Upham Pond and three pubs including The Brushmaker’s Arms.

The meeting will take place at 8.15pm on Monday, April 20, at Upham Village Hall.