CHURT villagers will soon celebrate the opening of their first post office since the previous one closed in the wake of a knifepoint robbery a decade ago.

Bucking the national trend of post office closures, a new branch will open within the newly extended Spar village shop at The Crossways, Churt on Friday, September 1 at 1pm.

The village’s previous post office in Churt Village Hall was closed in 2007 after its postmistress was threatened at knifepoint and forced to hand over more than £3,000.

A 19 year old staying with his grandmother in the village at the time was sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institute after pleading guilty to the robbery at Guildford Crown Court, in September 2007.

But the cash was never recovered and the post office was closed down – leaving pensioners needing to travel outside the village to collect their money.

The branch at the village hall had itself replaced Churt’s former permanent post office in The Old Bakery at The Crossways after it was sold for development.

Dawn Barrow, clerk of Churt Parish Council told The Herald: “The village has been without a post office for a very long time, and of course they’ve been shutting all over the country so we’re really pleased about this opening.

“Until now Churt residents have had to go to the post offices in Beacon Hill, Farnham or the little one in Frensham and it’s been difficult for them, especially the older people. There is a volunteer driver scheme in the village but it takes a lot of planning just to go to the post office.”

The clerk added Churt Parish Council had explored the potential for a mobile post office to visit the village one day a week, but praised the shop’s owner Ketan Patel for going one step further.

She added: “The people who run the shop have been very good, and they’re also having the shop extended and re-opening as a Spar which is fantastic.”

The new post office will be open seven days a week, from 7am to 7pm, offering customers an impressive 84 hours of post office services a week.

They will be offered from a low-screened, open-plan ‘combi counter’, enabling customers to carry out a wide range of post office transactions alongside their grocery shopping.

Post Office network operations manager Amanda McGinley-Heath said: “As part of an exciting programme of modernisation and investment which is taking place across the Post Office network, we are opening a new post office in Churt.

“We are making it easier for customers to get their cash, send and collect their mail and do their banking because we know how important these services are to local residents. We are confident this vibrant new-style Post Office at the heart of the community will meet customer needs. This modernisation is part of a major investment programme, the largest in the history of the Post Office.”