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New temporary Wick post office service 'could be extended'


By Jean Gunn

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Kevin Milkins and his wife Dawn outside their existing Wick shop, Birons Ironmongers in Bridge Street.
Kevin Milkins and his wife Dawn outside their existing Wick shop, Birons Ironmongers in Bridge Street.

A new fixed-base post office in Wick is set to open in January – and the man behind the plans is confident he can make it work.

The temporary shop-based post office service will be set up in Wick in the former social work building in the town's High Street.

Local businessman Kevin Milkins has confirmed that he will be taking on the service from January 7, initially for a period of three months. The manager will be Sarah Bartholomew.

Mr Milkins, who runs Birons Ironmongers in Bridge Street along with his wife Dawn, said progress was being made with the former social work building located at the shore end of High Street.

"It was always going to be looked at as a temporary solution to the current dilemma of a van," he explained. "We will try it for three months and if it works for us it will be fine and we will perhaps progress it. We are very optimistic that we can make it work."

To start with, the new shop facility will operate one till from 10am to 2pm five days a week and if the couple feel there is enough footfall they might open on a Saturday. An additional till could also be introduced.

Looking to optimise the space in the new premises, Mr and Mrs Milkins are also planning to run an eBay service in the shop as they will have professional photographer Ian McDonald, who will be providing a picture framing service, on hand to take pictures of items people wish to sell.

The items will then be listed on the online marketplace and customers browsing in the shop will have a chance to look at them and make purchases. Any products that are bought online will be parcelled up and posted by the staff.

Mr Milkins said: "In the first instance we want to get the post office up and running and give the service to the town that it deserves. Once we get that running as we want it, we will then look at developing the eBay side of it."

The existing mobile service in the town – provided from a van that visits the riverside car park four times a week – will stop on January 6 at 3pm.

The previous branch in Bridge Street, within the card and gift shop Best Wishes, ceased to trade at the end of October after the resignation of the postmaster.

Post Office Ltd brought in the mobile unit to maintain a service for the town.

Wick is currently served by a mobile post office service. Picture: DGS
Wick is currently served by a mobile post office service. Picture: DGS

Announcing the plans for the temporary service, David Duff, Post Office network provision lead, said: “We are delighted to be improving the opening hours of post office services in Wick, whilst we continue to look for a permanent solution.

"We want to thank postmaster Glyn Jackson for adding Wick to his mobile post office service that already provides service to many rural communities. Glyn adapted his routes to provide as much time serving the Wick community as possible.”

The new post office service at 125-127 High Street is scheduled to open on Thursday, January 7, at 11am.

Alternative post office branches in the area can be found in Watten, Lybster and Thurso.

Related articles:

Wick post office van to be replaced by shop-based service

New post office plans for Wick


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