Empty shop set to become mushroom cafe

The Grade II listed building had been empty for three years

A shop which has stood empty for three years is set to have £90,000 spent on it to turn it into a coffee shop which grows and serves its own mushrooms.

The Grade II listed building on Cross Street, Oswestry, Shropshire, will grow "gourmet and medical grade mushrooms" on the site, a town council report said.

The store used to be a Dorothy Perkins branch until 2021 and the money will be spent on improving the shop front, setting up a cafe and converting the top two floors into a mushroom farm.

The proposed "Shrooma" cafe has been awarded £5,000 by the council, to help pay for the work to the shop front.

The council funding came from an initiative to bring empty town centre properties back into use which the authority said had helped 19 sites in the last year.

An application for listed building consent for the shop front alterations was lodged with Shropshire Council in August and is currently in progress.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.