Donations have been left to rot inside a Grade II listed charity shop after it closed during the pandemic and never reopened.

Save the Children has been in Union Street, Maidstone, since the 1980s when the building was bought for £12,000.

But it has sat abandoned since its closure over three years ago, which one resident says is a “disgrace”.

Kate Bishop, director of retail brand and strategy confirmed the store will not re-open but said all “sellable” donations had been transferred to other stores to maximise income for children.

However, when KentOnline visited the site, it had a full window display of donations, and the back of the shop was overgrown with brambles.

Julie Sibley, 63, said: “There’s no excuse for all the donations to be left in that shop which people have given in good faith to help kids.

“I am particularly disgusted during this war in Ukraine and poverty in this country that our local Save the Children shop is still closed.

“The store is full of donations gathering dust which have been sitting there for well over two years.”

After noticing the store had remained closed for some time, Julie contacted Save the Children for an update.

In response, the charity’s retail regional manager emailed in June to say she was “unaware” it was filled with donations and agreed stock should be moved to another store.

But Julie, who lives in Maidstone said: “Nothing has happened since they emailed me.”

Despite claims the shop has not been visited throughout its closure Kate Bishop says teams “regularly check” on the shops.

Meanwhile, Gary Peters, who lives in Union Street, says that people often leave bags outside the charity shop because it still looks like it’s operating with a full window display.

He added: “People keep chucking all their charity stuff outside and it gets spread all over the road.

“Donations aren’t getting distributed, they are getting destroyed by people going through it and it gets spread all over the place – it’s not getting picked up by anyone.”

Three months ago, Gary, who is a property developer, put in an offer with his business partner to buy the store, but is still waiting to hear, after he was told the charity may put the property up for auction.

The 54-year-old said: “I would start work on it tomorrow and put it back to a house because that’s what it was originally.

“It still looks like a shop, and I dread to think what’s upstairs or in the basement.

“If they sell it to us, we will make it look pretty again.”

In response to suggestions of its change of use, Julie said: “It’s sad it can’t be a shop but hopefully if it’s sold as a house the charity gets all the money”.

Back in 2017, the store in Union Street was visited by Princess Anne who honoured volunteers with long service awards.

Dennis Foad, 87, who collected donations on behalf of the charity for 28 years said it is a “terrible shame” it had closed permanently.

He said: “I knew it had closed during the pandemic, but I didn’t know it was permanent – it’s a disaster really because it was a well-used shop so it’s a shame if it’s not open at all now.”

In a statement, Ms Bishop, said: “At Save the Children the priority has always been to make sure we are raising as much money as possible so that we can make a difference to children’s futures both in the UK and all over the world.

“Our shops play an important part in this which means we are constantly reviewing our portfolio to make sure that every store is contributing towards this end goal.

“We review our stores every five years, taking into consideration factors such as volunteer numbers, potential income and location.

“Our teams regularly check on our shops and have confirmed that all sellable donations kindly gifted to us from the local community have been transferred to other stores to maximise income for children.

“We recognise the enormous contribution the Maidstone community and our wonderful volunteers have made to Save the Children and we would like to thank every one of them for everything they have done over the years.”