ANY hopes that the old shop in Appleshaw next to the Walnut Tree pub might one day reopen have been quashed after planners gave permission for it to be used for residential use.

It's owned by the occupiers of the adjoining house and they have been using it in a residential capacity since the shop closed a few years ago.

A report to Test Valley Borough Council's northern area planning committee said the size of shop and nearby population, coupled with large retail facilities in locations easily accessible by car, indicated any shop there was unlikely to be viable.

The report added: "For most applications of this kind we require the business be marketed as a going concern and at a reasonable price before we consider recommending permission." But given any shop was unlikely to be viable officers decided such an exercise unncessary.