BURITON is hoping to get a new shop and post office right in the middle of the village.
The shop is planned for part of the Egon Ronay-listed Five Bells pub and will include a grocers, post office, off-licence and newsagents.
A village shop working group is currently recruiting a tenant to manage the business and a planning application for change of use and listed building consent has been submitted.
Working group chairman Richard Robinson said: "We are now working full steam ahead for an opening in early September. It would be really wonderful to have a thriving shop in our village again."
The working group was set up after two public meetings overwhelmingly supported the idea of reopening a shop in the village.
The old village shop closed 18 months ago. The post office was due to close this summer but postmistress Carol Warren kindly agreed to keep it open through the summer.
The working group is negotiating a three-year lease with Hall and Woodhouse Inns Ltd which owns the Five Bells.
"We are very grateful for their support. This kind of link between a shop and a pub has worked in other parts of the country and we believe there are significant mutual benefits here as well," said Mr Robinson.
The Post Office has backed the project and the working group has enjoyed the guidance of a businessman with extensive experience in the rural shop trade.
Highways officers are developing plans to slow traffic through the village and improve safety around the new shop location.
"We want to make absolutely certain that people can get to the shop safely, particularly parents and children from the school opposite the Five Bells."
Highways engineers met a representative of Hall and Woodhouse on Wednesday to agree the outlines of new road safety features outside the pub.
The working group is to set up a Buriton Village Shop Association which will oversee the running of the shop.
The association will be formally launched at a public meeting in the village in July.
"The shop will be run by the tenant. Our role will be to make sure things go smoothly and ensure it is run for the benefit of villagers," Mr Robinson said.
More than 200 villagers have confirmed they will join the shop association. Initial start-up costs have come from a grant from East Hampshire District Council.
"There's a lot of hard work ahead of us," said Mr Robinson, "but we now have a base for the shop and a great deal of enthusiasm for it. We've had tremendous support from the parish council and from all sorts of people with different expertise in the village.
"We are also grateful for the support of our district councillor, Peter Bradbury, and our county councillor, John West."