Retiring postmaster: '˜No chance of this Post Office closing'

Stuart Sherlock, who runs the Post Office on the corner of Daggers Hall Lane and Vicarage Lane in Marton, spoke out after his business went up for sale for more than £300,000.

Speaking from his shop, he moved to reassure customers the business would not be shutting its doors.

“There is no chance of this Post Office closing,” he said.

“There’s only one Post Office that has closed recently, and that’s the one at Preston New Road in Marton, and that closed last September.

“It’s highly unlikely there will be anymore.”

He added: “All our customer are aware of the situation. We keep our customers informed.”

Business agent and broker Hilton Smythe, from Bolton, said the Post Office has an asking price of £305,000.

As well as offering general postal services, it also sells tobacco, greetings cards, confectionary, stationary, handbags, children’s books, and toys, the firm said.

In an online listing, a spokesman said: “Our clients are reluctantly selling the business due to a well-deserved retirement.

“The husband and wife team run the business with two other members of staff.

“We advise this business as a partnership.”

The Post Office has been open since 1962, and run by Stuart and his wife since 2005, the company added.

It currently opens from 9am to 5.30pm on Mondays, from 8.30am to 5.30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 9am until 5pm on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and is closed on Sundays.

Customers are currently being consulted on plans to reopen the closed Preston New Road branch, which shut its doors in October, within a nearby shop.

The branch, which closed when postmaster Ian Staughan’s contract was ended, could reopen with extended opening hours at Smileys Convenience Store, Waterloo Road.

A six-week consultant was launched at the end of April.

The Post Office says, should the reopening go ahead, the branch would be open from 7am to 10pm seven days a week.

This would be 54 hours a week more than were previously offered.

Services would be available from a counter within the existing shop.

Simon Drinkwater, Post Office regional manager, told The Gazette last month: “We understand how important having a Post Office is to residents in Marton.”