AGAINST a backdrop of applause and appreciation, a Teignbridge village recently welcomed back its Post Office, yet despite proving popular among parishioners, an appeal for additional support has gone out.

Kingskerswell Post Office reopened at its new home in 5 Fore Street in October last year; sharing the space with the village’s esteemed sweet shop, Kaleidoscope. The Post Office, while at present only providing the essential services, has aspirations of expanding its offerings and becoming the ‘hub’ of the village once again.

Acheiving this goal, however, will mean further support from Kingskerswell residents – more people, making more transactions, as postmistress, Kaz Jones, explains.

‘I thought we were quite busy but apparently we are not busy enough,’ she said.

‘We need more people to come in and use our services so the post office can be sustainable.

‘This means more transactions and until we can get more transactions and more people through the door we can’t offer any more services.

‘Regarding the main Post Office, people need to see that it is viable to bring more things in – I would love to be able to do car tax here, as we have a garage across the road.

Kaz has spent the past several years trying to get the village’s post office open again and her tireless work paid off.

‘Now I have done it obviously I want to keep it here but people need to come through the door’ she said.

‘In all fairness, I have had a lot of support since our Facebook post – more people have come in to buy stamps or for small transactions which is fantastic.

‘I appreciate that a lot of things are done online, but you can’t meet a friendly face or come and meet up with somebody online’ she added.

‘We have the sweet shop here too, and I hope to start selling pies, pasties and other bits soon as well.

‘I want the post office to become the hub of the village again - I want to make it a proper community space.’