The owner of a beloved furniture shop has paid tribute to 'lovely' local community after closure announcement. 

Sara Hughes, a furniture and home accessories shop in Marlow, will close its doors this month after 10 years at number 21 on West Street.

Founder and namesake Sara Hughes emphasised that the closure had been a long time coming and was an opportunity for her to focus on designing more original pieces.

"I've had the shop for 10 years and the lease runs out this summer. I decided that rather than take out another five year lease, I wanted to focus on building the business's website and on designing my own furniture.

"I started a decade ago by selling chalk paint from Holland, but that had to stop when Brexit happened. I then moved on to doing a lot of upcycling - painting clients' furniture and home accessories. 

"I also hand designed all the lampshades in the shop. Even back when I was a kid, I would sew all of my own clothes.

"It really is a natural step forward to focus more on selling designs online and to other shops."

Sara, who trained at the prestigious St Martin's School of Art in London, moved to Marlow 20 years ago and established the Sara Hughes brand in 2013.

Vintage and restyled furniture is a longheld passion for the business-owner, who has appeared on TV shows including Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is and Money for Nothing. 

Sara also previously worked as a retail buyer for Liberty London and as Vice President of buying for Disney stores across Europe, but said she was especially grateful for the friends she had made through her shop in Marlow.

"Since the announcement yesterday, people have been coming in and saying how sorry they are. I've had to reassure them that the rug hasn't been pulled out from under my feet!

"I have been really lucky because Marlow is such a nice place with a lovely community."

Sara said she doesn't have an exact closing date in mind but it will depend on how quickly the remaining stock sells.

"I'm assuming it will be at the end of this month or maybe the beginning of June. We are running lots of reductions at the moment including 10% off our lampshades."

Sara added that she was staying in the area to work from her home studio and hoped to continue to help shopgoers with their bespoke design requests and redecorating queries. 

Visit https://sarahughes.co.uk/ to view the pieces currently available for purchase and learn more about the Sara Hughes brand.