WORK is continuing to convert a Dorchester corner shop into a home – with some minor changes.

The Monmouth Road shop has been empty since 2018 after being offered for sale as a going concern from 2015. Despite some interest and a reduction in price a buyer for the shop could not be found and the council accepted the site was no longer viable as a business.

Permission to convert the ground floor shop into a home was first granted in 2019 with the building work start delayed until the summer of 2022.

The latest conversion plans for the building.

The owners have now applied for minor changes to the original application to Dorset Council for the main building with changes also requested to a first floor flat.

A bench outside the shop was paid for by local residents in tribute to a former shopkeeper who lost his family in a tragic road accident and was found dead himself in 2009.