Belsay Shop is one of best in Britain

Feb 27 2009 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

A VILLAGE shop helped through crisis times by the huge support of its local customers has won a regional award.

Belsay Shop has been named Countryside Alliance North East village shop and post office of the year for 2008 and will vie for the national title against winners from the rest of Britain.

Its post office was one of 81 that network bosses announced they were seeking to close last July.

Belsay Estate, which own the shop and post office, set up a petition opposing the closure which attracted more than 800 signatures, the most for any branch in Northumberland. However, following the six-week consultation period, the move was rubber-stamped and bosses announced they were to replace the post office with a visiting postmistress.

However Belsay Estate rejected this, so it was agreed that subpostmistress Stephanie Jarron would continue to run the post office and be paid to offer services. The Countryside Alliance in giving the award acknowledged, however, that the shop lost a major source of income when the post office salary was lost.

And it considered the fact that the shop now has to fund the limited service it offers given the small payment it receives from the post office.

The alliance’s regional director and head judge Richard Dodd added: “The closure programme by the was a blunt instrument that got it wrong closing places by geographical means.”