CUSTOMERS visiting the new John Lewis at home and Waitrose store will be able to support three local charities as part of the store’s charitable giving scheme.

John Lewis at home, which is set to open its Basing View doors to customers on November 12, will split £3,000 between three local causes every three months.

The Waitrose store will donate a further £1,000 to three charities each month.

The donations are part of the company’s Community Matters Scheme, which allows customers to decide which charities they wish to support by donating a token they are given at the checkout.

John Lewis and Waitrose will then split the donation between charities according to the proportion they received in tokens from customers.

The first three local charities to take part in the scheme will be the Ark Cancer Centre Charity, Spotlight UK and Basingstoke NeighbourCare.

Jamie Rodgers, branch manager at the Basingstoke Waitrose store, said: “We’re pleased to be supporting the first three worthy charities as part of the Community Matters scheme together.

“We are looking forward to celebrating their incredible contribution to the local area.

“There are so many deserving causes in Basingstoke and we look forward to working with many of them in the future.”

The three charities thanked the new store for their support.

The £7million project is now entering the final stages of construction, which will see the interior fitted and the cladding on the outside of the building completed.

It will provide 369 retail jobs and is the third and biggest co-located store in the partnership’s portfolio.