Cropton post office to close (From Gazette & Herald)

Cropton post office to close

ANOTHER North Yorkshire village looks set to lose its post office and village shop if no one steps forward to take the business on.

Mike and Irene Hardey have run Cropton's post office and stores for 31 years. They have finally decided to call it a day.

And while they were hoping someone would buy the property and keep the vital service up and running, they doubt whether anyone will come forward.

"We would have liked to sell it as a business," admitted Mr Hardey, who grew up in nearby Middleton.

"But house prices are ridiculous now. There is a living to live off here, but not enough to pay off a mortgage."

Mr Hardey, 65, said handing his notice in to the Post Office - provisionally he and wife Irene will finish on April 9 - had been difficult.

"We went half days four or five years since to give us a little bit more time here. It was either do that or sell then.

"Now the time has come for us to sell up.

"We shall miss it, no doubt about that, and there's the social side of it all which will go.

"The people in the village all say they will miss it, they don't know what they are going to do, but we have no grumbles with the Post Office.

"Things are changing and we have got to retirement age, and any changes are harder to get used to."

The couple have applied to Ryedale District Council's planning department for permission to convert the post office and stores back into residential use.

Cropton villagers will have to use nearby Middleton or Rosedale post offices, he said.

"I think people are resigned to the fact that there's not a big chance of anyone taking it on.

"It's unfortunate for villages that they lose their facilities."

The village shop, which supplies everything from catfood to fresh fruit, is likely to be lost.

"Nearly all of the people in Cropton use it in some way or another," said Mr Hardey.

"We have milk delivered in the village, but people come here for spares when they run out, it's that kind of thing that will be missed."

72-year-old Mrs Hardey said that it would be tough leaving Cropton, which has been her lifelong home.

"It was not an easy decision to make," she admitted.

Updated: 10:21 Wednesday, February 26, 2003