| County | Cornwall, South West |
|---|---|
| Postcode | PL13 2NU |
| Opened | 2007 |
| Post Office | Yes |
| Management | Managed plus volunteers |
| Legal | ViRSA IPS model rules |
| Premises | Other |
View a map of where to find us
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Friday, Saturday 7.45am - 6.00pm
Thursday 7.45am - 1.00pm
Sunday 9.00am - 12 noon
Monday - Friday 9.00am - 1.00pm
Saturday - Sunday Closed
Post Office
Groceries
Newspapers and magazines
Confectionary
Pet food
Chilled meats
Frozen foods
Cigarettes
Flowers
Greeting cards
Milk and dairy produce
Crafts
Lanreath Village Shop in Cornwall opened on the 15th January 2007. The official opening will be held on 8th February 2007.
The shop and post office is located in a former public toilet block and received funding from sources including the Enterprise4Inclusion programme. Please click here to see the Enterprise4Inclusion case study.
In September 2004, our thriving village shop and post office closed due to new owners taking over the premises. The business wasn’t for them so they decided to just close it down. The villagers were bitterly disappointed as our nearest shop and post office is a four mile round trip – a long way to go for a newspaper! After a big community meeting in the village hall it was decided that the way to go was to set up and run our own shop and post office. Hence, the Lanreath Community Association Limited came into being and a committee of eight was formed and premises were sought. After much discussion we eventually managed to secure the use of the old public toilets in the village. The local Council had proposed to close but now agreed to sell it to the Parish Council for the nominal sum of £1. The Parish Council then leased the premises to us at no cost. Funding was obtained from the Rural Renaissance, the Defra managed and Plunkett Foundation managed Enterprise4Inclusion programme, The Cornwall Community Foundation and The Post Office, to whom we are very grateful for their patience and understanding. A Builder was sought and three months later we had a shop and post office to be proud of. This was one of the hardest village projects we have ever had to tackle, it may be a small shop but I don’t think our large village hall that we built was as complicated as this project!
Our senior citizens in particular are now delighted to have a shop and post office that they can walk to, as many of them do not drive and the last bus left this village last October. There is now no regular public transport for them to use, and they have only our little community bus that belongs to the village.
We have a total population of just over 450 in our parish and everyone is absolutely delighted with it the new facility. At present we have about 18 volunteers to man the shop, but we are expecting that number to drop off as time goes by. The Shop and post office has a volunteer Post Mistress and a paid part-time Manageress for overseeing the shop. She is responsible for keeping the books, ordering goods, overseeing the volunteers and making sure the shop is run properly. We try to use local producers, particularly those in close proximity, and are encouraging our villagers to sell their own crafts, etc. in their shop, as any available funds made will go back into improving the shop or into the community.
We are working with our local pub to share some of the ordering with us to try to enable us to buy more cheaply and our little primary school also have their milk and fruit on a daily basis from here. At present our primary school is under threat of closure and we know that this will have a detrimental effect on our shop so we are fighting tooth and nail against this closure. Like all rural communities, we have to keep battling to maintain and improve the life of the village and need the invaluable support of the funders, the local authorities and providers of services and, of course, the community itself.
Information provided by Marion Facey of the Lanreath Community Association.
A Cornish village is celebrating the opening of its new post office, which is in a former public toilet.
Lanreath''s old post office stores closed in September 2004, leaving villagers with a four-mile (6.5km) round trip just to buy a newspaper.
Villagers formed a committee and were offered the toilets for a nominal sum by Caradon District Council.
Sub-postmistress Jenny Donnelly will run the Post Office on a voluntary basis with other volunteers.
Villagers see the post office as key to the future of the village community, which is facing the closure of its primary school.
Local pensioner John Eccleshall said: "It''s lovely to see something positive happening in south east Cornwall after so many negative things.
"I wish it every success and I''m sure it will be."
The project has received grants from the Rural Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Partnership, the Plunkett Foundation, National Lottery, Cornwall Community Foundation and the Post Office.
Information from the BBC News website 08 January 2007. Click here to see the full article.
01503 220997
01503 220751
Marion Facey
Committee Member
01503 220349
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