ALMOST 140 years of trading at a tiny post office that became a village store has come to an end.

Six months after Royal Mail bosses cut their ties with Draycott-in-the-Moors, the family which ran the shop for more than six decades has decided it can never again be viable as a business.

Redundant sub-postmistress, Annette Robinson, explained without the custom from the post office she was left with no choice but to stand down from behind the counter.

The 45-year-old said: "We have been going through the accounts with a fine tooth comb trying to see if it would be possible to operate as just a general store.

"But I never took a wage from the shop and it still operated at a loss.

"With places like Tesco just up the road, we simply cannot compete."

Mrs Robinson insisted she will miss the customers she calls friends, as well as the drama she experienced during her 18 years in charge.

And she recalls a time when police officers camped out in play equipment after receiving a tip-off an armed robber was ready to strike. She said: "During the late 1990s post offices around North Staffordshire were being targeted by gun-toting robbers and intelligence reckoned we were next in line.

"It was like an episode of The Bill and my every move was being watched. One armed officer hid in the shop and two more were in a Wendy house around the corner.

"In the end nothing happened which was very lucky."

Plans have now been submitted to convert the two rooms on the ground floor that housed the shop into an extended living area for her, husband Stephen and their two daughters.

It was Stephen's mother, Eve, who ran the post office – a fixture in Uttoxeter Road since 1870 – after taking it on from her own mother, Evelyn.

She worked for 32 years until she passed the branch down to Annette, who subsequently expected her new career would provide a job for life.

But, after a gradual withdrawal of services such as post office card accounts, Royal Mail claimed their current network was unsustainable and earmarked Draycott-in-the-Moors for closure.

Dozens of residents penned protest letters and the parish council launched a Save Our Post Office campaign, but it proved to no avail and it finally closed on August 15.

Ken Shelley, then parish council chairman, said he was still annoyed with the decision.

He recalled: "We tried our best but it always seemed like a done deal.

"It is a very sad loss for the village but it is obvious without the post office the place just couldn't support a shop."

Mrs Robinson added: "I don't really know what I am going to do now.

"Spending so long in one job, I suppose I have been left behind.

"But I am lucky to have found such a lovely place where I get on with all my neighbours and long may that continue."