A popular and hard-working couple, who have run their town’s post office for the past 26 years, have announced they will be retiring.

Ameet and Parita Patel took on the Post Barn branch in Scotteswood Avenue, Chatham, in August 1996, where they were both based until three years ago.

In 2022, Parita also started working at the Post Office in Gillingham High Street after her brother, Pradip, unexpectedly passed away.

He was just about to open the branch at his newsagents, Wards, which he had run for 30 years and was proud to be restoring the service to the town.

Ameet and Parita did not want to let the community down, so Parita took on the branch with the help of Pradip’s wife, Falgun, in memory of her brother.

However, the pair say they have now reached the stage of their lives where they want to slow down, and have handed over the reins of both sites to new postmasters.

Ameet said: “Parita has been semi-retired for the past few months, and I will be soon too. Neither of us was ready to fully retire, but we wanted to have time for new hobbies and to relax.

“This will allow us the best of both worlds as we will still get to serve the customers that we have come to know so well, and we can help the new owners to settle in.

“The best thing about being a postmaster is serving customers and getting to know them well. We are pleased that we have found suitable new owners for both branches.

“Our regular customers were dismayed that we were selling, but they are pleased that we will still be here part-time.”

Post Office area manager, Michele Davies, added: “I want to sincerely thank Ameet and Parita Patel for running Post Barn Post Office for 26 years and for coming to the rescue of Gillingham Post Office at a very difficult time for the family.

“This clearly demonstrates how community-minded they are. I wish them both well-earned semi-retirements.”

The new postmaster for Post Barn Post Office, Sinthujah Vinothan, started on Friday (September 19), while Nallaikumaran Sivarajah took over the Gillingham branch in April.