Tuesday July 29th 2025
The Old Village Shop, Pencaitland
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
The new owners of a village shop have applied for permission to turn it into a hot food takeaway in a bid to ‘modernise’ it.
The Old Village Shop, in Pencaitland, East Lothian, has been operating for around 30 years on the main road through the community.
An application for a change of use to East Lothian council planners says changes are needed both with the building and what it offers the community.
The change of use to hot food takeaway would allow the shop to offer breakfasts and lunch as well as coffees and cakes and a seating area with the opening hours proposed to be between 8.30am and 2pm daily.
In a statement supporting the changes, the applicants say work on the building itself is required with the application also asking to remove the chimney of the building which is described as ‘dilapidated’ and changes to the frontage of the shop.
The statement says: “The Old Village Shop has served the local community for over 30 years. The shop recently changed ownership and having assessed the building, the new proprietors are looking to refurbish, modernise and improve the facility – so that they can present new offerings and continue to meet the needs of the village and surrounding area.
“The front of the property requires the existing defective window and door to be replaced, with the existing timber fascia, soffit boards and metal rainwater fittings renovated. The new timber window will be a 12-pane sash and case style unit, painted white. The new timber front door, along with the existing woodwork and metal rainwater fixtures, will be painted dark green.
“The dilapidated chimney stack to the rear of the main roof is redundant and will be removed to protect / enhance the buildings durability.”
On the move towards a cafe facility in the shop, the applicants say the removal of the chimney stack will also support changes internally to open up the store and create more space.
They say: “The current shop has class 1A usage. The new owners wish to change this to class 3 use, in order to facilitate a morning / afternoon take away, plus some customer seating – serving breakfast, lunch, coffees, pastries, cakes, fresh smoothies and freshly squeezed fruit juices.”
The application can be viewed on the council planning portal.
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