REGIONAL bakers, Reeve, is planning to open in the disused former Halifax Building Society in South Street, Dorchester.

The building has been empty since November 2022.

A planning agent for Reeve the Baker, which started in the Salisbury area, and how has 13 shops in Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire, says it will replace the existing frontage with a wooden, traditional designed, shopfront which it claims will be an improvement and more in character with the rest of the street.

An early public comment on the planning application, from Dorchester resident Jon Roberts, says that while the arrival of the business is welcome in the county town, he says it is a shame that the bakery is planning to remove what Mr Roberts describes as "a good quality shopfront from the 1960s/ 1970s – a rare survivor from that time."

The details of the application, reference P/FUL/2026/01090 , for the South Street property, can be viewed and commented on via the Dorset Council website.