A NORTHWICH postmaster who has devoted 30 years of his life to serving the community has been celebrated for his service.

Since leaving his job as a milkman, George Taylor has been at the helm of the Castle Post Office in Chester Road for three decades.

During his years in charge George has always cared about his customers, especially during the Covid pandemic when he remained open to provide vital services.

Now the Post Office has celebrated this milestone by giving George a 30 years' long service award.

He said: "I really like being a postmaster. The best part of my role is the people that I meet.

"We love to chat to our customers and we have got to know them well over the years. My customers are really lovely and it’s a beautiful place to live.

"There isn’t actually a castle, but it was a Roman hill fort in an important Roman settlement.

"When work was done on the post office car park they found lots of archaeological remains.

"We stayed fully open during the pandemic to provide vital Post Office services. I didn’t want to let people down.

"Customers were really appreciative that they could stay local. I think some people may have made frequent trips, rather than one visit, to get out and to see friendly familiar faces.

"It was so busy sending parcels, banking, paying bills and home shopping returns, but people adhered to social distancing and everything was fine."

George made the decision to switch careers after getting fed up with being outside in all weathers and early starts, as well as seeing more customers buying their milk from supermarkets.

When he took over in 1994, the previous postmaster had also been in the role for more than 30 years, as had other members of his family, who had run the branch for three generations at the same location.

George has no plans to step down and is now hoping to break the long-service record for the Castle branch.

Matthew Waller, the Post Office area manager, the award, saying: "I want to thank George for being a first-class postmaster for 30 years.

"George and his team really care about the people that they serve. They are knowledgeable and helpful and they are really at the heart of this community.”

At the Castle Post Office, which was modernised in 2015, customers can buy cards, stationery and confectionery as well as access services such as vehicle tax renewal, passport check and send, full range of foreign currency, personal and business banking, and ID verification.

It recently became a branch where customers can choose to send parcels via DPD in addition to the choice of Royal Mail and Parcelforce services and also Amazon collection and returns.