Published: Monday, 8th February, 2010 12:00pm

Money pumped in for new lease of life

by Rose Harland

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A CHARITY shop hopes that its refurbishment will give it a new lease of life.

The British Heart Foundation clothes, entertainment and homeware shop in Broadway in Bracknell town centre was officially reopened by Bracknell Town Council mayor Cllr Chas Baily with his wife Sandie.

Angela Vidler, the Foundation's regional manager for the South, said: "The opening went really well. Staff and volunteers have put in some really long hours to get it ready on time.

"I would also like to thank all the people of Bracknell for supporting us."

The shop closed on January 16 and was reopened on Thursday last week after improvements including new flooring, a commercial clean, new shelving and replacement of some of the ceiling tiles.

Mrs Vidler said: "We wanted to give the shop a boost and bring it in line with all our other shops. We know by doing it in other places that it gets more customers in. We want to get rid of that old charity shop image. Everyone who comes in says it looks really nice."

It will cost the shop £200 extra a week for a year to pay for the work - but staff think they will make far more than that by having several extra metres of shelving space for CDs.

The charity is also preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year and launch a campaign called Mending Broken Hearts to raise money for research into heart treatment medicines that could be an alternative to surgery.

Mrs Vidler said: "We are really, really excited. We will be having a big launch next year but lots of things will be starting for it this year."