Last post for Rodborough shop (From Stroud News and Journal)

Last post for Rodborough shop

NEWS that the Post Office is pulling out of a Rodborough convenience store could be the last nail in the coffin for the parish's only remaining independent shop.

Samms on the Bath Road was set up by Maqsood Ahmad and his family back in 1987 and has weathered the financial storms of the arrival of three out-of-town supermarkets.

"My whole family have been working here seven days a week for the past 17 years," said shop owner Maqsood Ahmad. "I've had to sell a house and remortgage this place twice just to keep going.

"And last year my daughter sold off her garden to bail us out." But the withdrawal of the post office counter is set to cripple the business.

"We haven't sat down as a family to discuss it yet but something has got to change," said Mr Ahmad.

"The shop just isn't viable on its own. "We'll have to either set up a new business or shut it up."

Mr Ahmad said the closure felt like a kick in the teeth and he felt bitter because of all the hard work they had put into it.

"We've been struggling from the last six or seven years and have invested a lot of money into this place," he said.

"The post office was vital for us to survive but the decision has been made and unfortunately we have to accept it."

He acknowledged closure of the convenience store would be inconvenient for Rodborough's sizeable population, particularly pensioners and parents with pushchairs, but said there was little choice.

"We have no alternative," he said. "Unless more people use it, I'm afraid they are going to lose it."

The post office services will go on November 20 and the axe is set to fall on eight other post offices in the county. A decision has yet to be made on Whiteshill Post Office.

Paul Maisey, head of area for Post Office Ltd, said: "A number of concerns were raised during the consultation period and generally the feedback centred on the effect the closures would have on the elderly, disabled and parents with children along with the inconvenience and difficulty of travelling to other branches.

"We have listened carefully to the views put forward at meetings with local MPs, the local authority and Postwatch.

"Consideration has been given, at length, to ensure that we made the right decisions for the future network of Post Offices.

"Post Office Ltd acknowledges that seeing a local facility close is disappointing for those who use it and who perhaps find the prospect of change unsettling. "However, whilst at this time it is of little consolation to those customers, it is only by closing branches where alternatives are available and accessible to customers we can maintain a nation-wide network of Post Office branches for the long term.