John and Helen Pugh, owners of the local Post Office, are retiring after almost 24 years in Ross.

Located in the Maltings Shopping Centre, the Pugh’s spent 20 years in their original premises, until three years ago when they moved into new, bigger premises.

John is retiring from the position of Postmaster, while Helen is retiring from the position of Customer Relationship Officer and Sales.

Both John and Helen have a background in finance and administration, Helen previously working at one of their other businesses, Lydney Post Office and as a Branch Administrator at a local bank.

The couple said that they enjoyed the retail side of the shops, they found gaps in the market and filled them, which is “the beauty of being independent.” However, since opening in the 90s, there has been a terrific amount of change. From a time when everything was very labour intensive, using pen and paper, the Post Office was computerised. Mortgages, home insurance and car insurance were not avaliable back in 1994 but are now a large part of their business. However, John said that Motor Tax used to bring in 1,400 people a month, which has declined significantly due to online sales.

Due to many prohibited items, nowadays the Post Office staff have to ask everyone what is in the parcels they are sending, and the bureau also now deals with 25 different currencies.

However, some things have remained the same, such as posting parcels at Christmas - which is as popular as ever. They have also said that they still have quite a few of the same customers from when they took over, and have got to know a lot of people over the years.

John and Helen own another shop in Chepstow, which has been run by their son for the last eight years, and they will be working there once they retire. They also have three grandchildren, which they will be helping out with, when necessary, but they also hope to go travelling to places such as Asia, as well as revisiting a few places in the USA.

The new owners of the Post Office are moving with their two children, to Ross from Cornwall on October 6th, and are said to be looking forward to running the business as it has been, but will be bringing in new things. Helen said they are “young” and have fresh ideas.