Post office and village shop moves into old Baptist chapel

The chapel, that's been converted into a shop, is now also home to Shelley's shop and sandwich bar.

Both the post office and village shop have moved from their old premises in Main Street.

Shelley Davies, who has been the postmaster for Witchford for 16 years, wanted to move to a larger premises for her village shop, post office and sandwich bar.

"Our lease was running out on our old premises so it was either the choice of closing everything down or going somewhere else," she said.

When the Baptist chapel came up for sale, Shelley contacted the Baptist Union and, as a charity, they had to manage the value of the premises and benefit for the community.

Many residents supported the idea for a village shop and post office and contacted the charity to show their support. The bid was successful in July 2020.

Witchford post office and village shop's old premises in Main Street. (Image: Credit: Google Maps)

Speaking about the opening day, Shelley said: "It was lovely and the reactions were very positive. The regular customers that came in were just amazed as they walked in.

"The children that live next door to the shop came in and on their way out they said 'thank you so much for opening the shop next to our house'".

She added: "Everyone just loves it. They were all saying 'wow' and saying how different it is, how much choice there is and how it's really just what the village needs."

Shelley said the next move for the shop is to get the sandwich bar up and running. She hopes to do this within the next month.

In the future, she'd also like to work with some local suppliers in the area such as butchers and bakers to get their produce on sale in the store.

The new opening hours are as follows: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 8:30am-1pm & 2pm-5:30pm; Thursday 8:30am-1pm and Saturday 8:30am-12:30pm.