The ribbon has been cut on a town’s new post office complete with brand new interiors.

Beaminster’s Post Office was officially opened by Chris Loder, MP for West Dorset, following a revamp to bring it up to date.

Steve and Teresa Smith, a husband and wife partnership, are postmaster and postmistress for Beaminster; adding it to their Crewkerne branch and 10 outreach locations across Dorset and Somerset.

The first stage of modernising Beaminster Post Office involved removing the old-style full-screened Post Office counter and replacing them with two new modern Post Office counters and signage. There is new lighting, which makes it light, bright and airy.

 The shop has been given a complete revamp with, property landlord, Jonathan Stokes, also rolling up his sleeves to help the couple with the facelift of the shop at 18 Hogshill Street.

Chris Loder MP said: “I can see that Steve and Teresa Smith have already made big improvements at Beaminster Post Office. The community is delighted and I know that this enthusiastic couple have further exciting ideas to greatly increase the size of the shop.”

Postmaster Steve Smith said: “When we looked at Beaminster Post Office we could see lots of potential to create more retail space. Stage two of the refurbishment needs planning permission and approval from English Heritage as it is a grade II listed building. The plans to remove the staircase would treble the size of the shop and we are hopeful that we can get planning permission.

“The people of Beaminster have been very friendly and they get a warm welcoming smile when they visit. They can see all the improvements we have already made. We are talking to residents and businesses to make sure that they are aware of all the services we provide including banking and change giving, which are both important as there are no nearby banks.”

The previous couple, Nick and Julie Bright, agreed to continue to run Beaminster Post Office, until Steve and Teresa could check the likelihood of getting planning permission with the help of their landlord, who is a property lawyer.

After 15 years at the helm, the couple have now retired. Nick’s career with Post Office had spanned 30 years. He had previously been the Postmaster for Stour Road and Sea Road branches.