Kind-hearted Erdal Gok and his nephew, Murtaza Gok, have celebrated being at the helm of Arnos Grove Post Office for ten years.
Bambos Charalambous MP for Southgate and Wood Green and Enfield Borough Council Deputy Mayor, Cllr Nelly Gyosheva, visited the branch to thank the owners for their loyal service.
The relatives are very popular with their community as they are known to be very helpful. The branch at 468 Bowes Road, Arnos Grove, N11 1NL, is in Enfield Borough, but close to Barnet Borough.
Bambos Charalambous MP said: “I have visited this branch before, so I know that this is a first class Post Office. Murtaza and Erdal Gok really go the extra mile for customers and the community greatly appreciate the service that they provide."
Deputy Mayor, Cllr Nelly Gyosheva, said: “Arnos Grove has a great reputation for being very helpful, so we wanted to visit to thank the owners and their staff for all that they do.”
Murtaza Gok, who grew up in North London, said: “This is a very multi-cultural area. We employ people who speak lots of different languages. That proves very helpful for people who don’t speak English, but speak Turkish, Russian, Bulgarian and Albanian. So, we can cater for several languages and then there is Google translate for anything else.”
When Erdal & Murtaza took on the branch they undertook a big refurbishment to modernise the premises and their shop is a newsagents, cards and stationery, but they also offer key cutting, printing services and DIY goods.
Murtaza said “The best thing about being a postmaster is being able to support the community. We enjoy being able to help people. It gives us real joy to see how we can make a difference in someone’s lives, from helping someone this month to pay their parking fine before incurring additional costs, or saving someone an unnecessary journey to find a bank, or the best way to send a parcel. We care about our customers.
“We are very community-minded and we like to go the extra mile to help our customers and with word of mouth people also come from further afield. Our branch attracts all ages, and we use social media to help reach younger customers.”
“There have been lots of bank closures, but we are the local bank where people can do their everyday personal and business banking. We like to tell customers about the services that we offer as for instance not everyone knows that we can withdraw cash here, pay in cash and cheques or get account balances.”
For many years Murtaza Gok was a special needs teacher. With his knowledge and understanding he has arranged work experience for youngster with special needs and ongoing opportunities, which is much harder for people with additional needs to obtain. Murtaza chooses jobs for people to do based on their strengths and taking into account their individual difficulties. This approach gives people a chance to succeed.
Post Office Area Manager, Deepak Valani, presented a Post Office 10-year Community Service Award in recognition of their decade of dedicated service to the people of Arnos Grove and beyond.
Deepak Valani: “Erdal and Murtaza Gok really are at the heart of their community and they and their staff genuinely care about their customers. They are knowledgeable about the services that they provide and help customers to choose the right service, but they often help people in many other ways too that are not related to running a Post Office.”