Village shop takeover

A FATHER and son have started running a convenience store and Post Office in Shiplake.

Andrew, 62 and Archie Granger, 19, moved into The Corner Shop in Station Road on April 4.

They took over from Mark and Carol Harvey, who ran the store for about 20 years.

Andrew worked as an estate manager and lived in Cornwall with his family before moving to the area around six years ago.

He hopes to stock the store with produce from local suppliers, including wine, cheese and coffee.

Andrew said: “We are going to change it slightly over time and make it a nice hub for the community with tables and chairs out the front and back.

“We hope have ice cream in the summer, with hopefully longer running hours too. We want to try and restock slowly so that it has a lot of local produce, which in itself is quite challenging.

“We’re going to do as much as we can to source things locally, such as cheeses and, if it’s not locally sourced, we will be using local suppliers which, of course, is exciting but quite daunting as we have limited space. We don’t want to cram it full of stuff.

“We’re going to put a barista coffee machine in and I think the whole village can’t wait for that to open, especially the commuters, as there’s more than 100,000 entries and exits at the station every year.”

Andrew found out that the shop was on the market during a fleeting visit. He said: “Because everyone chats in here, I overheard the Harveys saying that they were retiring. Someone else was in line to buy it but it fell through for whatever reason.

“It has taken six months to purchase because of the slow and rigorous process with the Post Office but the opportunity here to create something really special is fantastic.”

Archie is the dedicated postmaster who has undergone training for his new full-time position.

He said: “I’m on top of the world and I’ve dreamed of doing this. It’s a bit stressful because it’s all new and there’s so much to learn.”

Andrew added: “It’s worked well for Archie. It’s a time when he’s done a lot in his short space on this planet.

“I think he hasn’t quite realised the pillar of community that he’s going to be because he can officialise documents as a postmaster.”