A NEIGHBOURHOOD butcher's shop in Malvern has been saved from closure by the intervention of a local businesswoman.

Alison Pearson, who runs the catering business Malvern Buffets, has acquired the shop in Poolbrook Road, which has been threatened by closure.

And she plans to keep it going as a butcher's shop, and introduce a cafe and an artisan bakery.

She said: "It's a chance to keep an important community shop going, and its also provides a base for my Malvern Buffet business."

As well as the shop and the catering business, Mrs Pearson runs the cafe at the Cube in Albert Road North, and ran a popular face in Barnards Green for many years.