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| From left to right, the landlords of The Star in Weaverthorpe, Eddie Paul and Ben Micallef, with village postmistress Anne Marie Clarke and postman Mike de Rouffignac |
VILLAGERS will be able to enjoy a pint while posting their parcels when their post office counter moves to a local hostelry.
The new landlords at The Star in Weaverthorpe have agreed to run a twice weekly service from the bar when the doomed village post office is finally given a closing date.
It's only been five weeks since Ben Micallef and Eddie Paul took up residency at the historic inn and they hope to run a thriving restaurant, pub, post office and even village shop from the premises.
"We thought it was a terrible shame that the village would lose its post office, because it's so handy for the local community," said Ben.
"Initially we will be open as a post office for two afternoons a week but we hope we will be full-time in the future.
"We also have plans to turn a garage at the back of the pub into a village shop, but it's still early days.
"We have come into this village and we want to provide a range of services.
It will be a great way for people to come and meet and share a chat over a cup of coffee."
Weaverthorpe is one of 12 Ryedale post offices told to close in a national cost-cutting move by Post Office Ltd, which is owned and run by the Government.
The sub-offices, which will be replaced by outreach outlets in Ryedale, are: Foxholes, Terrington, Huttons Ambo, Weaverthorpe, Allerston, Slingsby, Nunnington, Sherburn, West Heslerton and Hawnby, while Church Street, Norton, is to close on Friday without any alternative service.
Ann Marie Clarke, who has run the Weaverthorpe outlet for the past 10 years, said they still hadn't been given a closure date by the Government.
"The Government has gradually stripped post offices away until customers can get everything from TV licences and pensions without using their local branch,'' she said.
Without the post office our business is just not viable and we have no other option but to sell-up.
We are over the moon that the lads at The Star are taking over because we know how much the post office means to our customers. Rural communities need services - it's a lifeline to many, especially the elderly."
Last week, MPs voted through the closure of 2,500 post office branches across the country, defeating a bid by the Conservatives to block the move. A vote to suspend the closure was defeated by just 20 votes.
Ryedale MP John Greenway said that if just 20 more Labour MPs had had the courage to vote with the Conservatives, post office closures could have been stopped.
The Conservatives proposed a motion which would have suspended the closures, but were relying on MPs from other parties to support the proposal.
In the end the motion was defeated although the Government's majority was slashed from 67.
Mr Greenway said: "This was a chance to register a protest at the number of closures and the hypocrisy of ministers campaigning against closures in their own constituencies.
"I just think it's a real tragedy that 20 more MPs did not have the courage to go through the lobby as then the Government would have had to do something."
Adrian Wales, the Post Office's network development manager, said the decisions had been "difficult", adding: "They were not taken lightly."
He added that the outreach arrangements could include a mobile service visiting villages for several hours a week, or a home delivery service.
What do you think?
Is this the way forward for rural village post office services?
12:05pm Wednesday 26th March 2008
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