A couple who are self-confessed “people persons” have marked 30 years happily serving customers at Taffs Well Post Office.
After serving in the Merchant Navy, Dave Carroll and his wife Valerie decided to run pubs in Cardiff. They really enjoyed chatting to the customers, including one who was a postmaster, who planted the idea of them running a Post Office.
Dave and Valerie decided they would prefer to run a business with more sociable hours. They successfully applied for the Post Office vacancy in Taffs Well, with its famous spa.
Since September 1994 when they took over the Post Office at 27 Cardiff Road, the village has grown in size with more housing, businesses and business parks built in the area.
At one time there were three banks in the Taffs Well and Treforest area, but the last one, a NatWest in the village, closed two years ago. Their Post Office has proved a banking lifeline for personal and business customers as they can do transactions on behalf of all the major high street banks. They have helped to show the community how easy it is to do their banking at their branch rather than having to traipse elsewhere.
In the last three decades they have also seen lots of changes with parcels with the major growth in home shopping and popularity of second-hand sites. As a result, lots more customers are coming in with home shopping returns and parcels for delivery and packages to collect.
Valerie is also a good cook and they decided to open a sandwich bar alongside the Post Office. It provides a place for customers to enjoy food and a chat and her takeaway meals of chilli and curry have also proved very popular. It has also helped to attract people from neighbouring villages.
Taff Wells Postmaster, Dave Carroll, said: “We really enjoyed running this Post Office. This is a lovely village and we have got to know the community well. The area is one the up with improvements to the train station and planned improvements for the thermal spa, which will bring in more tourists.
“There are lots of elderly people in the area and we like to help them, we showed them how to do their banking here.
“Some people also want to come in for a chat as they are lonely. Now we have the sandwich bar, that works really well as they have somewhere to sit and enjoy company and Valerie can chat whilst serving people their food, whilst I’m serving Post Office customers. Valerie and I are real people persons. We really care about our customers.”
A Post Office 30 Years’ Long Service Award was presented by Post Office Regional Manager, Lynn Lewis, and Ceri James, who has been their Area Manager for nearly 20 years.
Post Office Area Manager, Ceri James said: “Dave and Valerie are a great couple who are much-loved by their community. They are helpful to all of their customers and they run a really good Post Office. They are very people-focussed and chatty. They don’t like the thought of people being lonely, so their sandwich bar provides somewhere for people to meet and chat.”
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