Minster Parish Council Chairman, Cllr John Quittenden, has “cut the ribbon” today (October 25) to officially open Minster Post Office at its new location – Attwell’s Premier, 57 High Street, Minster.
Pritesh Patel and his wife Bhavna Patel took over the independently run convenience store in the summer. They carried out a major refurbishment to create a modern shop, undertaken by a local builder, which re-opened in August as a Premier store. It now has a much greater retail range, including a beer cave.
They also successfully applied to take on Minster Post Office. This has restored service Post Office to the community with daily opening and much longer hours than before.
A Post Office counter is alongside the retail counter of the convenience store. The new opening hours are: Monday to Saturday: 6am – 8pm; Sunday: 7am – 5pm. This will provide 94 hours of Post Office service a week, during the shop’s opening hours, for the convenience of customers.
Minster Parish Council Chairman, Cllr John Quittenden, said: “A Post Office is an essential shop for our village as it is offers so many vital services and saves residents and businesses so much time than have to traipse to other towns or villages. We are very lucky to have this great-looking shop and Post Office, open seven days a week. I want to thank Pritesh and Bhavna Patel for taking on this new business.”
Pritesh Patel said: “We opened the Post Office yesterday lunchtime and we have already had lots of customers, so there is obviously a big need for this branch by local people and businesses. We are delighted to have restored Post Office services before the busy Christmas period for sending parcels and cards and home shopping returns.
“With bank closures it’s so easy for customers to do their deposits, withdrawals and balance checks and lots of people have been doing banking business.
“We have already seen lots of new faces coming into use the Post Office and they also like all the improvements that we have made to the shops business and buying from the retail side too. Customers are very happy to have this great looking shop and Post Office on their doorstep. We’re making sure to tell people that the Post Office is open every day and customers are impressed.”
Customers received opening event goodie bags and food to sample.
The previous branch at nearby 56 High Street, Minster, Ramsgate, CT12 4AB, closed last December.
Emily Clive, Post Office Network Provision Lead, said: “We are delighted to have restored a Post Office to this area as we know how important a Post Office is to a community. The branch’s opening hours make it convenient for customers to visit. The whole store looks great and the daily opening make it so easy to pop in.”