After nearly 26 years in Ashford town centre, the Save the Children charity shop is closing its doors for the final time today.

Due to an increased rent as well as a lack of customers and volunteers, the children’s charity has decided that the shop’s lease would not be renewed and therefore would close for good.

Sue Wise-Hopkins, who has been volunteering at Save the Children for seven years said: “The lack of volunteers is one of the main issues.

“I think if you asked any of the charity shops in town they’re suffering the same.

“One of the reasons is that more and more grandmas and grandpas are now child-minders, looking after grandkids, so they don’t have a week or so ahead of them where they don’t have things to do.

“That is having a huge impact on the charity retail sector.”

The charity shop stopped receiving donations on May 15 and has been attempting to sell as many items as possible.

Any leftover stock that is left over when the shop shuts today will be moved to a different branch.

Patricia Mann, who has been a volunteer at the charity shop for over 20 years said: “There were not so many customers coming in, and we have a target amount we are supposed to get every week, which we were slightly below.

“It’s really sad. We’d just like to say thank you to those who visited the shop on a regular basis and helped us to raise so much money.”