THE new postmaster in Whalley has big ambitions for the village post office.

Azim Shaikh, 27, wants to get the newly-refurbished post office into the top ten in Lancashire.

Mr Shaikh, from Darwen, had previously been helping his brother, Fazar Shaikh, to run the Colne post office, before embarking upon a venture of his own.

MORE TOP STORIES:

He has already seen success since taking over the Whalley business, and he wants to build it up to be one of the best in the county.

He said: “My brother owns the Colne branch, and he’s had it for more than eight years, we run it together.

“This is our second venture, and this is my own.

“It’s my main venture now.

“We’re also taking over a third post office in January, in Skipton Road in Colne.”

Since taking over the business at the end of October, Mr Shaikh has transformed the King Street shop, with full a refurbishment.

As a consequence, the shop is now attracting customers from further afield.

Mr Shaikh said: “It’s going really, really well.

“Before it was quite dark and dingy, and had a lot of dead space.

“By doing the refit we’ve made it a lot bigger and brighter.

“We’re selling a lot of things now like cards and stationary, and people are coming from all over just to purchase the cards.”

Mr Shaikh said he hopes to build the business up to become one of the best performing in Lancashire.

He said: “We have a league board for post offices in Lancashire, based on all the products we sell and how well we do.

“We’re hoping to get Whalley in the top ten post office.

“Colne’s already in the top ten, at number seven, and we want to get Whalley in there top ten too.”

The refurbished post office was officially opened last week by the Mayor and Mayoress of Ribble Valley, Cllr Michael and Jeanette Ranson.

Whalley councillor Joyce Holgate MBE was also in attendance at the opening.

She said: “The two brothers who have taken it over are really nice, and they’ve done it up inside.

“It was in danger of closing, and with building another 5000 houses in the village it’s essential that they keep the post office open.

“We’re really pleased with what they’ve done with it.”