Bideford Post Office has reopened today under new management

Bideford Post Office reopened at lunchtime today (Thursday, September 4) under a new experienced postmaster who already runs several post offices in Dorset.

The Bideford branch on the Quay is the first of six directly managed branch (DMB) post offices in Devon and Cornwall to be taken over by family-run business South Coast Retail.

Bideford Post Office closed at 3pm yesterday to allow the transition, reopening today with Liam Searle as postmaster, who already operates branches in Dorchester, Sherborne, Swanage, Weymouth and an outreach service serving three communities in the Swanage area.

Later this month and into October, South Coast Retail will also be taking on branches in Liskeard, Mutley, Newquay, Paignton and Teignmouth.

READ MORE: Bideford Post Office set to become a franchise as interim operator announced

The Post Office announced South Coast Retail had been chosen to run Bideford and the other branches in June this year. It follows the reveal of its five-year Transformation Plan to deliver a ‘New Deal for Postmasters’ which it says will ‘improve remuneration for postmasters and our strategic partners by an additional £250million a year by 2030’.

Above: Liam Searle at one of his south coast branches. Credit: South Coast Retail

Liam has been a postmaster since 2019 and he said: “I am really looking forward to taking on my extra branches in Bideford, Liskeard, Mutley, Newquay, Paignton, Teignmouth, Westbourne and Romsey and serving these communities. 

“We are a tight-knit company. Before the franchise announcements we had 50 employees and we now scale up to operate these branches in Devon, Cornwall and the South Coast, but we remain a small enough company where everyone knows each other.

“I welcome existing staff from these branches joining us and there have also been job opportunities for new people.”

Existing employees at Bideford and the other branches were offered the chance to transfer their employment across to South Coast Retail on their existing terms and conditions, or to take the offer of voluntary redundancy.