A FAMILY-RUN pharmacy in the heart of a Somerset village is moving to new premises - with the promise of two consultation rooms for doctors.

Merriott Village Pharmacy, run by Max Punni, is moving to the old Osborne's Butchers Shop in Broadway, Merriott.

He is currently in the process of renovating the building and is hoping the pharmacy will be up and running by spring.

Mr Punni set up the venture in 2009 - after Merriott Parish Council asked for a pharmacy in the village.

At the time, Mr Punni said he would open the pharmacy and asked the council and the community to work alongside him so one day Merriott could have a doctors surgery.

And there were plans to build a surgery because developers - who were building a small housing estate - agreed a piece of the land would become a medical centre with an adjoining pharmacy.

READ MORE: New GP surgery must be built after developers lose planning appeal

However, after the planning was agreed, the village struggled to find GPs who would take on the challenge - and so eventually the developers sold the land.

And so Mr Punni came up with a plan B - to build a bigger pharmacy with consultation rooms for GPs to use.

When the opportunity to purchase the old butchers came up, he took the chance.

"Merriott is the largest village in South Somerset without dedicated medical facilities and despite continued hard work and loyal patronage from villagers, the current GP recruitment difficulties meant nobody was there to staff it," he said.

"We've committed resources during these turbulent times to accommodate growing health needs in the village with plan B - a large pharmacy with rooms available for clinicians, practitioners, nurses and even GPs."

The old pharmacy won't be turned into houses either, as Mr Punni wanted to make sure the building would still benefit the community.

The building will potentially become a hair salon, after a hairdresser approached Mr Punni and asked to set up in the village.

Now Mr Punni has 11 pharmacies in total in rural South West communities.

He said he was "extremely proud" of how hard his has staff worked during the pandemic.

"When Covid-19 kicked in, pharmacies became the new frontline with huge volumes of work," he added.

"I am dead proud of my team - they have knuckled down and worked so hard."