Appleby-in-Westmorland’s Post Office has relocated into the town’s SPAR store retaining a range of vital services for the rural Cumbrian community.
The move has seen a double counter installed next to the tills within the SPAR store in Boroughgate after the retirement of the Postmaster at the previous location further up the street.
Services offered on the counter include letter and parcel handling, parcel and online order collections, business mail and shipping, and Evri, Amazon, DHL, and DPD services.
Personal banking (deposits and withdrawals), bill payments, car tax payments, passport applications and renewals, and travel money in a range of currencies are also offered.
Enhanced Post Office opening hours are another benefit with the new set-up at SPAR Appleby and the counter is open 8am-6pm seven days a week, adding at least 20 more hours of Post Office service every week for customers living in and around the town.
As part of the reconfigured till area, a self-service till has been installed adjacent to the Post Office positions for customers who prefer that method of payment.
To mark the relocation and retention of service, a celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony was held at SPAR Appleby with the store team, and partnership managers from the Post Office and James Hall & Co. Ltd, owners of SPAR Appleby.
Rob Langford, James Hall & Co. Ltd's Post Office Network Manager said: “We are pleased we have been able to reconfigure our till area and accommodate a dual position counter within our Appleby SPAR store.
“Retaining Post Office services and delivering continuity is a key priority when developments like Postmaster retirements happen, especially in rural communities.
“We have carefully planned this transition to be as seamless as possible, and it is another superb piece of partnership work with the Post Office following on from recent counter openings at other Cumbria SPAR stores in Bowness and Aspatria.”