LOWER Minety has lost its last village shop.

Both the shop and petrol sales business of Fairfield Garage have closed, and owner David Robinson says competition from supermarket chains is partly to blame.

Mr Robinson, 56, took over the petrol forecourt business 31 years ago, but it has been a garage for at least 50.

Three years ago, when Lower Minety's post office and previous village shop closed, he decided to start stocking groceries and papers.

He closed the petrol forecourt in September and now the shop side of the business has followed.

Minety Motors, which Mr Robinson also owns, is still trading.

He said: "Our petrol pumps are obsolete and we can't get spares any more.

"The tanks are 35 years old and we decided it wasn't worth investing £40,000 to renew the lot and carry on.

"With competition from the supermarkets, which are able to subsidise the price of their petrol, it just wasn't viable.

"The shop side was well used for emergency purchases but again we couldn't compete with the supermarkets.

"With supermarkets doing home deliveries, that increases competition as well.

"Once the petrol station closed, the shop became very quiet and unfortunately we had to close it."

The nearest shop for villagers now is the combined post office and grocers in Upper Minety, about two miles away.

In recent years, village petrol stations have closed in Purton, Ashton Keynes, Brinkworth, Som-erford Keynes and Hankerton.

Mr Robinson said: "You can see them closed down in every village, and most of them are built on.

"I didn't intend to close it down until I was 65 or 70 but the income got worse and worse."

Minety parish clerk Janet Lenton said the loss of the shop had hit villagers.

She added: "Now there is nowhere in the whole of Minety where you can buy a daily newspaper. That is the thing that people are missing most.

"I miss it for the odd bits and pieces but if people had shopped there regularly it would have been more viable.

"We've also lost our focal point.

There's now nowhere in the village where people can meet or bump into each other."