A NEW seven day post office service has been launched in a village.

Sully Post Office re-opened its doors this week after improvements which mean it will be open every day of the week.

Customers and staff gathered at the South Road store on Tuesday to mark the opening which will see long time shop keeper Gurdev Singh move on to be replace by Nicholas Bennett.

Opening hours have been extended to 86 hours a week and will provide a range of services including special delivery, local collect, home shopping returns, online banking cash deposits and withdrawals.

The branch had been closed from May 2 for refurbishment work to take place.

The post office will be open from 6.30am to 7pm from Monday to Saturday and from 7am to 6pm on Sunday, representing an extra 49 hours a week meaning the branch will open earlier and close later every day.

Other services include withdrawals using a Post Office card account, send funds abroad using Moneygram, and customers can pay bill, pre-order travel money, apply for travel insurance and top up mobile phones.

Mr Singh, who is known to customers as Dave, has worked at the store for 12 years and said he is sad to be leaving.

Mr Singh said: “It is a pleasure to see the place done up and there has been a lot of investment.

“I’ve had a lovely time here and formed a real connection with the customers.

“They relied on me and I like to think I went the extra mile.

“We formed a bond and they’ve told me they feel like they’ve lost something special.

“There is a real community feel to this place and I am quite emotional about leaving.”

Mr Singh will be replaced by Nicholas Bennett, from Penarth, who says the new opening times will be “more convenient” for customers.

“It is good news for the community that the post office will be open for longer hours.

“People should use their local shop and post office because if they don’t they will close.

“It’s use it or lose it.

“I would like to thank the Post Office for their contribution to the project.”

A trainer will be on site to help Mr Bennett get used to the equipment.