THE ‘voice of golf’, Peter Alliss cut the ribbon to mark the opening of Churt’s first post office in over a decade and refurbished village shop.

Shopkeepers Ketan and Dipali Patel, known in the village as Kay and Dee, recently celebrated their 10th anniversary of running the shop at The Crossways and invited villagers to help celebrate the re-opening.

Everyone was in good spirits as BBC golf commentator and Hindhead resident Peter Alliss teed off from the green in front of the shop, while children got stuck into a colouring competition. After six months of building works, the rebranded Spar supermarket now boasts a vastly expanded range of products, in-store bakery, hot food to go, Costa Coffee, a cash machine and outside seating area.

But most significant is the store’s new ‘combi counter’, offering a full array of post office services seven days a week from 7am to 7pm - coming after the village’s previous post office closed in 2007 following a knifepoint robbery.

Kay said: “Churt hasn’t had a post office for 10 years and it’s revitalised the village. The store itself has also gone from 475 to 1,600 square feet so it’s really become a mini-supermarket.

“Before the refurbishment, customers were telling us they couldn’t buy everything they needed in Churt so were having to go somewhere else.

“We can do everything here now – from your weekly shop to cash withdrawals, and the post office is open from 7am to 7pm every day, so it’s a significant change in the village.

“Everybody’s really proud that their shop is back, and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback.”