Community rallies to help long standing pet shop survive as energy bills treble
Watch Sarah Cooper's report
A village is rallying to support a beloved shopkeeper survive the cost of living crisis.
An online fundraising page has been set up to help David Sanders, who owns D&A Sanders Pet Care Specialists, after their annual energy bill went from £3,500 to £10,619.
In Yaxley, near Peterborough, Mr Sanders is known as 'The Dogfather'.
He's owned his pet shop for more than 50 years and offered many generations advice and support with their pets.
When he saw the steep increase in his annual bills, he worried he would have to close his shop for good.
Mr Sanders told ITV News Anglia: "Apart from my family, this has been my baby.
"It's my life's work, all my customers are my friends and I don't know what I'd do.
"I'd be lost without it really."
Jan Walker, a customer said: "It's just a friendly place to come and have a natter, you know, when I come up this way from the next village I come up this way to the doctors and I call in and we have a good old natter.
"It's a smashing place. It's a home."
Another customer said: "If we lose this then I think the whole community will be lost without it."
"It's a lovely little local shop, it's been here ever since I can remember to be honest with you, so I think yeah we need to save it."
"It would devastate the place, it's got to stay."
Mr Sanders's granddaughter, Shannon Sanders, set up an online fundraising page this week to try and help cover some of the costs.
It's already raised more than three thousand pounds.
She said: "It was incredible, I mean when he saw that someone had put in a hundred pounds within the first two hours and we were just gobsmacked and you can tell the emotion - he's not an emotional person - but the emotion you could see in his face, it just meant everything to him and he just kept saying "why would anyone want to help me?"
"And he doesn't realise what he is, he's more than just a shopkeeper, he's a family person, he's a friend."
Mr Sanders said he's overwhelmed by the support.
"I hadn't realised until now, just how much people cared for our shop."