Egremont’s new Post Office opened earlier than planned due to high customer demand.
The new branch officially opened at 10am yesterday, Wednesday, instead of 1pm after customers kept turning up keen to use its services.
Sub-postmaster Brian Skirrow – who ran Egremont’s old Post Office for 18 years before leaving in 2015 – has returned to manage the new one.
He said: “The old shop closed down back in January and the town has suffered since, people kept asking me will you reopen it and I thought why not, it’s good for the community. Especially for a town the size of Egremont.
“We’ve been working non-stop for the past three or four months to open and we’ll be adding a retail section offering stationary so it will look even better in the coming weeks.
“It has taken a lot of effort and money to get open but it will be good in the long term for the town.”
The new store will offer general services including personal mail, car tax and bill payments but won’t offer passport services.
Claire Shackley, who is officer in charge at the branch said: “We opened early because people were desperate for it and we thought well, we’ll learn on the job.
“We must have turned away at least six people before 10 o’clock this morning. People are really happy to see it open, one man actually said we’d made his day which was nice.
“Every town needs a Post Office, the elderly especially have been struggling to get busses to places like Thornhill and Cleator Moor to access a Post Office, so it is nice to finally be opening the doors. You don’t realise how much of a lifeline it actually is for people.”
The branch is also connected to Egremont Travel and offers travel money through its bureau de change.
It will be open Monday to Fridays from 9am to 5pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 12.30pm.
Claire and Brian added that the community had been incredibly supportive of the new branch opening so far and hoped the support would continue.
