Bourne Salvation Army to close shop in South Street after review

The Salvation Army is to close one of its town shops in a bid to cut costs.

Bourne Salvation Army’s charity furniture store, in South Street, is to close in early April, with the building - the old town library - due to be handed back to South Kesteven District Council.

The store had been closed for renovation work, but was due to reopen in the spring.

Instead, a closing down sale began last week and finishes today (Thursday, April 4) between 10am and 1pm.

The Salvation Army’s church, in Manning Road, and its Sally Anne’s charity, in West Street, will remain open as usual.

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“We reviewed the future of the furniture charity shop in January and needed to make the difficult decision to close due to limited resources against rising operating costs,” said Major Mark Rose, East Midlands divisional leader for The Salvation Army.

“We would like to thank our dedicated staff and volunteers for all their hard work, as well as pass on our gratitude to everyone in Bourne who has supported the shop.

“We will now focus on our Sally Anne’s shop, which sells clothing and small household goods and is an important hub for the local community, providing funding for our community work.”

There were also concerns Bourne Salvation Army’s community band was being wound up, but Mr Rose said it was ‘just taking a break’.

“The band is a mixture of Salvation Army members and community volunteers which means that sometimes we need to pause while we work out how to cover the band’s commitments,” he explained.

“We are looking forward to playing again soon.”