Post Office in the front room?

[Sunpat]

My great aunt ran the village Post Office from/in her front room in the 1930/40s - she lived in Churchill, Oxfordshire.
I think in 1901 (from the Census) that a similar arrangement might have been in place - with another household which appeared to include a whole family in the business.
Was this a common or an unusual situation?
Sunpat

[suedent]

It certainly happened in the Cornish Village where I spent my teenage years. Well, not quite the front room, more like the front passage. It was tiny and you were lucky to fit more than two people in. Not only was it the PO but she also sold newpapers & sweets.

The lady that ran in was well past retirement age, if it hadn't been for her commitment the village would have been without a PO. After her death the local garage ran a PO counter for a while but it was a short-lived affair sadly.

[MarkJ]

I would agree with Sue - vertainly in rural areas like Cornwall, Post Offices are often within a house. Where I live, the Post Office was, until a few years ago, in the front room of a dwelling. In another village, the doctors surgery is held once a week in a room at a private house - so such things are not uncommon in rural places.

Mark

[Geoffers]

There was a similar arrangement in Stonesfield, a few miles east of Churchill

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

My sister-in-law is currently the Post Mistress in Sherington, Buckinghamshire ..... the Post Office is one room in her house.

[Angelaj]

Hi,
The Post Office in the Bedfordshire village where I grew up in the 1970s was the hallway of a cottage. My parents later ran a village Post Office and stores in Norfolk and that was also a very relaxed set up. I think outside of towns you can do pretty much as you please as long as the numbers add up at the end of the day. (In my parents' case the postmaster/mistress had to make up any shortfall out of their own pocket)

[mrs_tease]

I bought a house a few years ago that was the local postoffice for many years. The lady who ran it had the counter set up at her back door,with a small table at one side for her books etc.

the postbox was sat in the front garden even after I bought the house, we had to have it moved eventually as people were walking up to the front room window and looking in everytime they wanted to post a letter!!!!!