A VILLAGE shop and cafe has expanded its offerings with the opening of a new Sri Lankan kitchen.

Niranjan and Veronika Raj, the owners of Charter Alley village shop near Tadley, are excited to share their home-style Sri Lankan cuisine with residents of the village and beyond.

The new kitchen was officially opened by Hampshire County councillor Rhydian Vaughan on Saturday, March 2.

"We are open for curry nights on Fridays and simple Sri Lankan food daily," said Veronika.

READ MORE: Charter Alley near Tadley welcomes new village shop and café

“We continue to run the village shop and café. The Sri Lankan kitchen is an addition. We got more outdoor and indoor seating now and we look forward to serving more residents.”

The Raj family has seen a positive response to their new offerings.

“We are getting a lot of visitors, even from outside the village. It’s been really popular," Veronika said.

“We are really happy that we chose to expand the cafe and open a new kitchen. We, as a family, used to find it difficult to get Sri Lankan food in the area. We had to go outside Basingstoke to find Sri Lankan restaurants. So we're glad that we are now able to offer this cuisine at our store."

The store currently employs seven or eight staff members, some of whom are part-time students.

Niranjan and Veronika currently handle all the cooking themselves, but they plan to train their staff in the future.