Blake Stephenson MP for Mid Bedfordshire “cut the ribbon” today (24/9) to mark the official opening of Houghton Conquest Post Office and Nisa convenience store which has been totally transformed by the new owner.
New postmaster, Gagandeep Singh, organised a community celebration. He undertook a seven-week project to fully modernise the store after the retirement of long-serving postmistress Manjit Thiarra and her family who had run the branch for around 30 years.
Building work was carried out for a much better layout and use of available space to increase the retail range of Nisa Houghton Conquest, 35 High Street, Houghton Conquest.
Blake Stephenson MP said: “This Post Office and convenience store is at the heart of village life in Houghton Conquest. There is a real buzz of excitement with all of the changes made to the premises, which has really transformed and modernised the whole store. I want to sincerely thank the new postmaster Gagandeep for his big investment into this shop. It looks really great and the longer opening hours will really benefit the community.”
In the past, the Post Office had been in a separate area of the store until the Post Office counter had been moved alongside the retail counter. For many years, that part of the store had been just used for storage as it had low ceilings, but it is now cleverly used for a new retail range of Cooks premium ready cooked meals.
The whole store has been refurbished. New shelving and layout improve the flow around the shop. Gangandeep invested in new refrigeration with low-energy use and deliberately chose very low-noise models to make it quieter and calmer for customers and neighbours.
There are new extended opening hours for Houghton Post Office and store of Monday to Saturday: 7am - 9pm; Sunday: 7am – 8pm. This is 97 hours of Post Office service per week, which is an extra 22 hours each week with earlier opening and later closing daily for the convenience of customers, giving more choice as when to visit. The convenience store is now open daily from 6am – 9pm.
Houghton Conquest Postmaster, Gagandeep Singh, said: “It’s been really lovely to get lots of great compliments about all the changes made. People have taken the time to come up to me in the shop to pass on praise. This is a very tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone and one day when I was out in the village, a kind lady, out with her shopping trolley approached me and asked if I was the new owner of the shop, and wanted to tell me how wonderful it looked and to thank me.
“It is 2 miles to the next nearest shop, so I know how important it is to this community. There have been many bank branch closures and people can do their personal and business banking here and pay bills. They can also get Euros on demand and pre-order other currencies as well as top up their Post Office Travel Money Card.
“People can send their parcels by Royal Mail and Parcelforce and do their home shopping returns, but there is also the choice of buy in branch services for DPD, plus Amazon and DPD parcel pick-up and returns. This means that people can have their parcels safely delivered here by a variety of courier companies for collection.”
“The former postmaster and their family still live in the village and they have all been very supportive and said “wow!” we can’t believe that this is the same shop that we have been involved with for 30 years. They really cared about who was taking on the shop and they are very happy with the feedback from their former customers, who are also their neighbours and friends.”
We retained all the staff who wanted to continue working here, plus someone experienced from Gagandeep’s other business, as well as new local people employed.
Gagandeep is an experienced postmaster. In 2019 Gagandeep he relocated his well-established MPM convenience store and converted the former The Sailor pub in Hitchin, adding Woolgrove Road Post Office. So, the knowledge he gained from that Hertfordshire project helped with his plans for his new Houghton Conquest Post Office and store.
Anthony Bayley, Post Office Network Area Change Manager, said: “We know how important a Post Office is to a community and we are excited to have fantastic new-look Post Office and store Houghton Conquest and with the benefit of longer opening hours than before. Customers are delighted. We want to thank the previous postmistress Manjit Thiarra for her family’s long and loyal service to the community and for the new postmaster Gagandeep Singh transforming the premises.”
Additional retail will soon begin with food to go and Costa coffee.