Mary Reid

When I went into Coombe Hill Juniors recently I asked the children what a Mayor does, and the immediate reply was 'Open shops and cut ribbons'.

I told them that it was quite rare to be asked to do that. But I did get a chance to open a shop on Wednesday afternoon.

The new MFI store in Kingston Road, New Malden (near Homebase) is one of three stores in the country that have been launched with completely new branding, store design and a product range that should appeal to a much wider market than before. The layout of the new store is very appealing and I was drooling over some of the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom settings.

MFI kindly made a donation to my charity.