The loss of a supermarket café would be a blow to a village community and a "great shame", a councillor has warned.

A question mark hangs over the fate of the Waitrose cafe in Hawkhurst, in Rye Road, as the food giant has not confirmed if the facility will reopen following the pandemic.

Reports on social media circulated that the café has closed permanently, but when Kent Online approached the company, a spokesman said: "We closed our cafés across the country throughout the pandemic and have been reopening them in stages.

"While we don't currently have plans to reopen our Hawkhurst cafe at this stage, nothing has been decided as yet. As always we'll keep our customers updated on our plans."

The store only opened in 2016, replacing Budgens and with the promise of creating 40 new jobs.

Cllr Beverley Palmer, who represents Hawkhurst and Sandhurst on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC), said: "I think it will be a great shame if they don't keep it. It has been a popular cafe.

"I think it would be another blow to the rural community. You can get a coffee from the bakery and the cinema but even so I think it would be a great shame.

"There's not many places in rural areas for people, particularly the elderly, to get together and have a chat.

"It's a community resource in a way and I would have thought it enhances the offer Waitrose has."

Fellow ward representative, Cllr Geoffrey Bland, said he thought residents would manage without the cafe.

He said: "It sounds as if they are keeping their options open, 'I don't confirm or deny' kind of thing.

"There's a very good café already in the crossroads. It will be a loss for Waitrose shoppers, but I don't think the village will be overwhelmed, it has managed pretty well without it for the last year.

"Waitrose has only been there three or four years, we seemed to manage without for the previous 100 or so years.

"The village will be happy if it reopens and will not be broken hearted it is doesn't reopen."

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