SHERSTON Post Office has been shortlisted for an independent news and convenience store award for the third year in a row.

The awards commend excellence in independent retailers across 17 categories. Sherston Post Office Stores has been nominated for two awards, one for marketing to customers and one for retail innovation.

Sub-postmaster Paul Mather said: “The main pride we derive is that the achievement is a professional independent benchmark confirming that we are meeting the highest standards possible to serve our local community to the best of our ability.”

Paul added that the fact that the shop’s status as a community office had been preserved earlier this year played a part in the nominations.

He said: “Being designated as a ‘community office’ as opposed to a ‘local’ has indeed helped in so much that it has allowed us to provide a full service to our village as opposed to just the essentials.

“This has added to our credibility to providing a full range of goods and services that the village deserves.”

The post office had previously been serving some customers informally from 7am each weekday but can also announce that this will now become official as the shop starts operating from 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.