Post office at heart of the community
London, it was named Independent Retail Post Office of the Year.
This seems more impressive when you learn that its owners have only been in the industry a short while.
Sean and Katie Hudson took over the business in April 2017.
Katie was an accounts clerk. Sean still has another job as a civil lawyer.
They’ve been married for 29 years, have two grown-up daughters and have lived in the village for more than 20 years.
After visiting village stores elsewhere, seeing how friendly they were and their to communities, they thought they could do the same in West Boldon.
So when they had the opportunity to buy the post office, they took it.
Sean said: “Neither of us had any retail experience. We’d worked in the licensed trade. I used to do relief work for Vaux Breweries.”
But what’s so special about it? It opens seven days a week and provides the usual services. But that’s only part of it. It’s the venue for many village events, the latest being the Macmillan Coffee Morning. As Remembrance Sunday approaches it will be central to the Boldons’ poppy display. It has stunning window displays at Halloween and Christmas.
The post office also serves as newsagent and grocery and is licensed to sell alcohol. But there are more unusual services too.
They have a “ring-andbring” service to less mobile customers who might not use computers. They place an order by phone and it’s delivered to them.
There’s a dry cleaning service and bespoke fresh fruit and veg.
Sean said: “One of the nicest things that people have said to us is that we’ve put the heart back into the community. That’s what we wanted the place to be.”