Fight over for village post office and shop

A village shop and post office which battled closure in a raft of cuts last year is to close.

Beeston became the village that fought for its facilities after first winning a battle to save its primary school, then its pub and finally its post office. But now, with the pub shut once again, the shop is set to close at the end of this month.

It is understood Post Office Ltd shut the sub-post office section of the shop on Thursday, which has led to the decision to close the shop. The shop's owners said on Tuesday they did not wish to comment.

A notice in the shop window said: "We very much regret to announce that we have decided to permanently close the village shop and post office on November 30.

"We feel that we can no longer fight all and sundry in our attempts to keep

the shop open along with the declining turnover and increased supermarket competition. We can no longer survive the losses the shop is making ...this has been one fight too far."

A spokesman for Post Office Ltd said: "Beeston Post Office closed on a temporary basis on Thursday, November 5 following an audit. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused and can assure them that we are doing all we can to restore post office services in the area."

Beeston Village Shop was one of 53 Norfolk post offices earmarked for closure in cuts last year. It offered other services to villagers, as well as food, newspapers and post office facilities.

People could pick up their prescriptions from the shop, and, until recently when Sainsbury's stopped the service, the shop offered a home shopping facility.

Debbie Noakes was the sub-postmistress, and with her husband David and parents Ken and Liz have run the shop for 13 years.

They also run a craft and die cast model shop next door which will remain open.