Rupa Huq, MP for Ealing Central and Acton and her famous sister Konnie Huq “cut the ribbon” to mark the official opening of brand-new Acton Post Office at Chatime, 96 High Street, Acton, W3 6QX.
The longest-serving Blue Peter children’s presenter is a popular British television and radio presenter, screenwriter and children's author and enthusiastically joined in the community celebration for Acton’s new Post Office.
New postmaster Hamid Abdulwahid Hamid opened Chatime, a bubble tea café, plus a range of other drinks, at the end of May.
Now he has added a Post Office which is also open throughout the café’s opening hours of Post Office services are available: Monday – Friday: 8am – 8pm; Saturday: 9am – 6pm; Sunday: 11am – 5pm.
This offers customers 75 hours of Post Office service a week, making it very convenient for customers.
Rupa Huq, MP said: “This is great news that there is a Post Office in Acton. I’m delighted to be performing the official opening and to thank Hamid for opening his new Chatime café and Post Office branch. The two work well alongside each other. This is an exciting new meeting hub in the community and with vital Post Office services. The daily opening hours make it easy for people with busy lives to pop in.
“I’d excitedly mentioned to my sister, Konnie, about the new Post Office in Acton, and she kindly agreed to join me at the official opening event.”
Owner, Hamid, has plans for a new person to join the team to focus on serving Post Office customers. This will also allow him to add food to the café.
Acton postmaster Hamid Abdulwahid Hamid said: “This is my new business. I have added different things at different stages. I established the bubble tea and other drinks side of the café first, then I was ready to add the Post Office, which people are really happy with. Now I will take on an employee, which will allow me to serve food in the café too.
“People are very pleased that there is a Post Office here in the High Street as it is very conveniently located for people to walk here, use public transport or to drive here and park. We are open from Monday to Sunday, so it is easy to pop in.
“People can do their everyday banking here including cash and cheque deposits, cash withdrawals and get balances seven days a week.
“We are really busy with parcels – I have never seen so many parcels. I know that it will get much busier in the run up to Christmas with people sending parcels, home shopping returns and people collecting parcels, but we have the space.
“There is a lovely atmosphere with people coming in to enjoy a drink with family and friends, or by themselves, to enjoy a drink and to use the Post Office. As it is the summer holidays there has been a buzz with lots of children too. It’s a great meeting place for the community.”
This new Acton branch offers customers Post Office services from posting letters and parcels to collecting and returning online shopping items and everyday banking.
The service is one of our local style branches with a low-screened, open-plan Post Office service point carefully integrated into the retail counter.
At the Post Office we are continually looking to refresh our network and ensure we meet our customer needs. The new branch aims to offer even more convenience to Post Office customers by extending the availability of Post Offices services in the area at The Vale and Horn Lane.
Mohammed Islam, Post Office Area Change Manager, said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to pay their bills, withdraw cash from their bank accounts, and send and collect their mail at a time and place that suits them best. We know how important our services are to customers, and we are confident that this brand-new Post Office will ensure that people in this area of Acton, have easy access to our services.”