WHALLEY’S postmaster has put his shop within touching distance of being one of the top 10 in Lancashire — just a year after taking over.

Azim Shaikh, 28, took over the post office in King Street at the end of 2014 and vowed to build it up to be one of the best in the country.

The building has had a complete renovation and has been redesigned to double the floor space inside and to include dry cleaning services.

As a result of Mr Shaikh’s efforts, he said the shop has seen an increase in sales of more than 120 per cent this year and has moved from the 72nd best in Lancashire to 12th, according to a Post Office league table.

Mr Shaikh, from Darwen, said his brother owns the Colne branch, which he helped run for more than eight years before going alone in Whalley.

He said: “This year has been fantastic. Although we didn’t get into the top 10 we have had such a good response from the community.

“I wanted to do the best I possibly could with this store to help bring it back into people’s lives.

“We get customers coming in from not just Whalley, but from Langho and further afield which is great news.

“Customers tell me they like coming into the new branch now and we have more services to offer people.

“The post office has a dry cleaning service, and we now sell a wide range of stationery and cards which people want to buy.”

The postmaster has worked in post offices for more than a decade and said he was still working on getting the shop into the top 10 by next Christmas.

He said: “We need to make a few more tweaks to tip ourselves into the top 10.

“We’ve come such a long way and I want to keep going at this pace.

“The branch was set to close last year. Now that is not the case and my customers have told me they are thankful for that.”

He added: “I would love to be able to have a bigger car park in the new year. It is something I will be working on.”