What can you do when someone in the village starts delivering newspapers on a daily basis from their living room? I think the answer is nothing much.

Mathan Param’s Premier store, Morgan’s, trades in Congresbury (population 3,000-odd) in North Somerset. Another store in the village used to do the home deliveries, but then went out of business, offering to sell the 500 rounds to him.

Mathan declined and noticed that his newspaper sales went up a bit after the other shop went down. He ordered more supplies.
But then sales went down again and he discovered that a previous employee of the defunct store had begun running home deliveries from her home, and delivered flyers offering the service. An entrepreneuse you might say.

Mathan shows no animosity (and wished her luck in earning a bit of living), just curiosity. “Is it legal to run a news delivery service from a house?”
I’m sure it would only be illegal if she were actually retailing from her house. I work from my house (or an office on the side of it). Unless one is actually manufacturing or selling goods to customers from the premises then it is all right. There are a few rules regarding planning and change of use.

You have to ask:

- Will the home cease being a private residence?
- Will the business result in a marked rise in traffic (deliveries, lorries or people calling one after the other)?
- Will the business involve any activities considered unusual for a residential area?
- Will the business disturb neighbours?

I don’t think any of these would apply in this case.

He hasn’t spoken to his supplier, Smiths News, about it because he has had an ongoing wrangle with the wholesaler over being pestered by third party suppliers. But that’s another story.