{"id":81175,"date":"2026-07-11T12:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/81175\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T12:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:45:17","slug":"derelict-and-shabby-kent-bus-shelter-transformed-into-one-of-britains-best-with-art-hanging-baskets-and-a-chandelier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/81175\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Derelict and shabby’ Kent bus shelter transformed into one of Britain’s best with art, hanging baskets and a chandelier"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, the rundown and disused bus shelter has blighted the street\"Caption: The<\/p>\n

The owner of a pub in one of Britain\u2019s most beautiful villages has transformed a \u2018derelict and shabby\u2019 bus shelter into a community library(Image: Courtesy of Molly Thompson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

A rundown bus shelter has been transformed into one of Britain’s best – complete with hanging baskets, art and a chandelier. Molly Thompson has owned the 600-year-old Woolpack pub in Chilham for two-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n

For years, a run-down and disused bus shelter has blighted the street outside her pub \u2013 and the 27-year-old became sick of it. Molly secured council permission before raising the funds to turn the shelter from shabby to chic.<\/p>\n

Now, the bus stop has been transformed into one of the nation’s ‘cutest’. Molly said: “I live here, I’ve got my dog Wallace and every day I’d walk past that bus stop.<\/p>\n

“It took me a year since moving here, and I thought it was a derelict building, an ugly and shabby sort of thing. We had some crazy ideas at first, but we also want to keep an aesthetic for the village.<\/p>\n

\"Caption: The<\/p>\n

The rundown bus shelter in Chilham has been transformed into one of Britain’s best – complete with hanging baskets, art and a chandelier(Image: Courtesy of Molly Thompson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

“We thought of a few ideas, we started fundraising at the Woolpack and asking people for donations, which we did a raffle for. We had to put in ourselves, of course, from the Woolpack, but a lot has been donated from the village.<\/p>\n

“We had an anonymous envelope delivered with \u00a3100.” After getting the green light from the local parish council, Molly, her mum Sharon, 57, and others got to work renovating the shelter.<\/p>\n

The outside of the shelter has been repainted and decorated with hanging baskets. Decorations, such as a flower vase, have been nailed down in an effort to deter vandalism.<\/p>\n

\"Caption: The<\/p>\n

The outside of the shelter has been repainted and decorated with hanging baskets, while inside there’s a library (Image: Courtesy of Molly Thompson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

The total cost of the work cost around \u00a31,000, taking around four days of labour. Now, the bus stop has been transformed into one of Kent’s ‘cutest’.<\/p>\n

Molly said: “There was graffiti, I’m not going to explain what it was, because it was inappropriate, plants coming in through the roof, chipped paint. It was dirty, suspicious looking, smelly \u2013 not very nice.<\/p>\n

\"Caption: The<\/p>\n

Molly Thompson, 27, has owned the 600-year-old Woolpack pub in Chilham for two-and-a-half years(Image: Courtesy of Molly Thompson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

“We like to be involved with anything, really, that comes up. Chilham village is not the busiest and most bustling village, that’s why a lot of people love it.<\/p>\n

“Whatever comes up, we like to sponsor things, we like to get involved as much as we can. There is another bus shelter in the village, but that’s in working use, so if we’d be allowed to do anything with that one, I’m not sure.<\/p>\n

\"Caption: The<\/p>\n

The rundown bus shelter before its transformation(Image: Courtesy of Molly Thompson \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n

“In general, the village is pretty beautiful \u2013 that was one of the only poorer parts of it, not looking its best. Anything that comes up, we’d absolutely love to do it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, the rundown and disused bus shelter has blighted the street The owner of a pub in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4336,13,3488,326,1127],"class_list":["post-81175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-best-of-kent","tag-britain","tag-good-news","tag-iya-alert-county","tag-pubs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116901414699474337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}