Lee Pitcher MP for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme and Mayor of Bawtry Cllr Alan Claypole attended the official opening of Bawtry Post Office (30/7).
The branch has opened at a permanent location - Best One, 2 High Street, Bawtry, DN10 6JE with new postmaster Malay Maniya.
This restored a full-time branch to the community, which is open daily. It replaces a part-time temporary branch at Bawtry Library, whilst we sought a permanent solution.
Lee Pitcher MP said: “This is great news for Bawtry that it has a full-time Post Office again and with the added benefit of being open from early until late daily. I want to sincerely than postmaster Malay Maniya for adding a Post Office to his Best One convenience store. This is a great cause for celebration.”
Mayor of Bawtry Cllr Alan Claypole said: “People were relieved to have had a temporary branch at the library, but this new branch is far more convenient due to the much longer hour, which makes it makes it much easier for customers who have busy lives. The community is delighted."
The opening times at Best One convenience store are Sunday, Monday and Tuesday: 8am – 9.30pm; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 8am – 10pm.
This provides 96 hours and 30 minutes of Post Office service a week, which is an extra 86 hours per week for the convenience of customers.
Postmaster Malaya Maniya, said: “Residents and businesses are very pleased that they have a permanent Post Office open again, especially as it is open seven days a week and there’s lots of parking in the area that makes it very easy to pop in to send parcels, or to do their banking, especially as there are no local banks.
“My brother had run this shop since 2019. I took over last year and I then successfully applied to take on Bawtry Post Office. Customers are very happy. It works well for us too as when people are visiting the Post Office, then they buy things from the shop too.”
Customers can do everyday personal and business banking for cash withdrawals and cash and cheque deposits. As well as sending parcels customers can pay bills, top up utilities, get Euros on demand and pre-order other currencies and get their Travel Moneycard.
Post Office Area Change Manager, Mary Benbow, said: “We are delighted to have restored a full-time Post Office to Bawtry, which is open daily. We also want to thank the postmaster for Hill Top who operated the temporary service and for Bawtry Library for providing space. This allowed us to maintain vital Post Office services to the community until we could provide this great, new, permanent solution.”