A MOTHER and daughter have come to the rescue and secured the future of Tottington Post Office.

Clare Brierley is the new sub postmaster at the branch in Market Street, taking on the running of the service with the help of her mother, Alison Baker.

The post office has now been amalgamated into their shop, Cobwebs and The Knitting Basket, which sells cards, gifts and wool, and is located just few hundred yards away from the old post office in the same road.

A search for someone to run the post office service in the village started after the previous postmaster retired.

Mrs Brierley, aged 35, said trade had been buoyant, and that in their first week they had more than 1,000 customer transactions, operating from a Post Office serving point inside the shop.

She said: “The Post Office had been asking around to see if anyone wanted to take it on, and I thought it would be a shame to lose it, right in the centre of the town.

“People have been really pleased, because we have got a car park, and the post office is now in the centre of the village.”

They have run their shop in Market Street for almost 10 years.

The Post Office is now independent of the Royal Mail, and has more than 11,700 branches across the UK.

Mrs Brierley said they are committed to the post office for the long term.

She added: “Our shop is busier, and it is all about customer service.”

The post office is open from 9am to 5.30pm from Mondays to Saturdays, except for Thursdays when it is open until 8pm.