A BRAND new shop dedicated to raising money for Worcester Cats Protection opened its doors on Saturday.

The shop at 59-61 St John's is just three doors away from the previous premises and offers more space so the shop can present stock better. There will also be room for people to pop in and talk to shop manager Fran Holder and staff about their own cats.

"We'd love people just to pop in and see what we have and have a chat," said Miss Holder who has been running the shop for the past eight years.

"We will have a lot more space and we are all very excited about the opening," she said.

Worcester Cats Protection raises money to help pay for cats that are with foster homes and which goes towards their food and any vets' bills.

"We have usually around 15 to 20 cats at one time in homes around Worcester and have 18 foster mums at the moment," she added.

The shop was opened by Helen Freed, winner of the Worcester News competition The Best Cat in Worcester, which had been organised through the charity, and Margaret Kinberley, who opened the first charity shop in St John's nine years ago. Mrs Kimberley was also the founder of the Worcester branch of the charity in 1978.

Cats Protection director of operations David Newall said it was the hard work of volunteers who manned the charity shops and helped with fundraising that helped rehome more than 35,000 cats each year in the UK.

The new premises is now open and will be pleased to accept any unwanted items to sell in the shop.