There will be no bargain leather jackets and cut-price fur coats on the racks when a new charity shop opens in Hitchin town centre.

The Comet: Cuddly crew: charity staff Brett Cochrane, Danielle Goodwin, Alpesh Patel, Christine Middleton and Janet Wheatley with Hadwen mascots outside the shop which will soon be supporting the trusts work.Cuddly crew: charity staff Brett Cochrane, Danielle Goodwin, Alpesh Patel, Christine Middleton and Janet Wheatley with Hadwen mascots outside the shop which will soon be supporting the trusts work. (Image: Archant)

And many other items will be banned from shelves, too – because the town-based Dr Hadwen Trust is promising that its new bargain base in Churchyard will be operating on vegan principles.

The trust, which has its headquarters in nearby Portmill Lane, has committed more than £3 million over the past five years to funding medical research projects which don’t involve animal research.

A manager for the new shop, in premises previously occupied by Save The Children for 25 years until the charity closed its doors in January, is now being recruited and the trust hopes to be open for business by the summer.

Group head of operations Dr Kay Miller: “As a national charity we hope opening a shop will help raise awareness of our work, as well as helping us engage with current and new supporters.”

“We receive a huge amount of support from the vegan and vegetarian communities, and we believe that opening what we hope will be the first of a national chain of vegan shops clearly reflects our commitment to funding medical research that is both relevant to humans, and cruelty-free.”

“The charity shop sector is busy, never more so than in Hitchin, so we wanted to open a shop with a difference.

“We hope that the DHT charity shop will be well supported and attract visitors to the town.

“The shop will stock a wide range of goods that we know will be of interest to vegans and non-vegans.

“We are sure customers and supporters will be delighted to hear that all profits from the shop, and our online shop, help fund our cutting-edge research projects. Supporting our shop will be making a material contribution towards advancing medical research.”

You can find out more about the work of the trust online at www.drhadwentrust.org.