Loddon Post Office re-opened on Tuesday in a move that will see two businesses rolled into one.

Glenn Orford and Jo Connor have closed their DVD rentals shop, The Box Office, in the High Street and have bought the post office 10 doors down.

The new premises will house both a full range of post office services, as well as DVDs, confectionery, crisps, cards and alcohol, and will be open seven days a week.

Mr Orford said: “We knew the post office was coming up and we decided we would like a bit of a challenge. We had the Box Office so we thought we would move the business down the street into this one. The Box Office only shut on Sunday so it’s been very hard work.”

All the post office counters have been re-fitted and the building has been re-plastered and painted, with flooring, carpets and shelving installed to incorporate the Box Office business with the post office facilities.

“I’ve been around in Loddon since the late 1980s and so has Jo. We know a lot of people here and many people in the town have been talking about us buying the post office,” said Mr Orford, 44.

“The DVD rental business is still reasonable so we have got to be open later at night, so if anybody wants to tax their car or drop off a parcel then we will be open.”

All of the four staff have been trained to run the post office, with customers benefiting from opening hours extended to 71 hours a week.

The branch will be open from 9am until 8pm, Monday to Saturday, and 3pm-8pm on Sundays.

Kevin Shepherd, area manager for the Post Office, said: “We understand how important having a post office is to residents in Loddon and we are confident this new modern service will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future. This modernisation is part of a major investment programme – the largest in the history of the Post Office and marks a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.

An investment programme by the Post Office will see up to 8,000 branches nationwide modernised with additional investment in around 3,000 community and outreach branches.