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POST EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS!
The earliest recorded ‘receiving house’ for post in Ickenham was run by Ann Montague in 1847, but the first Post Office proper was located in a shop overlooking the village pond, between the Coach and Horses pub and Home Farm. In 1878 this was being run by Mr Ball the grocer, who had taken over from Mr Bryant the corn dealer.
 In 1887, the Post Office business passed to Charlie Butler. Charlie was quite an entrepreneur; not only the Postmaster, but also a baker, a supplier of corn to local farmers and a seller of home-bred, killed and cured bacon. He sold everything from paraffin to snuff. The Post Office remained in the family for several generations, taken over first by his son Daniel, and then, from 1901 to 1939, by Daniel’s daughter, Miss Ellen Butler. Our picture (from Morris Hughes’ book ‘The Story of Ickenham’) shows the shop in 1911, with Miss Butler standing in the doorway.
With the development of the shopping parade in Swakeleys Road, the Post Office eventually moved to a newsagent-cum-tobacconists-cum-sweetshop called the ‘BonBon’. Here the Post Office counter was relegated to a rather dingy little room at the back of the premises, often generating a long queue down the side of the shop at busy times.
But Ickenham residents always valued this local service, so when BonBon closed down in 2005 and Post Office Headquarters were not inclined to establish an alternative facility, there was quite a fuss. Fortunately, up stepped the Dhillon family, who had been running Ickenham’s Mace store, opposite St Giles’, since 1988. After a lot of negotiation and considerable investment at Mace, new modernised and upgraded Post Office facilities were incorporated into the Mace store. Additional services available included Car Taxation, Foreign Currency and Passport Check and Send, so Ickenham now has a Post Office with many of the advantages of a main branch.
 Mace has recently changed hands, but the new owner, Priyesh Patel, says he is going to run the shop and the Post Office in much the same way as previously. And Manjit Dhillon, one of the former owners, is staying on in a part time basis, to continue running the newspaper side of the operation. “I think the Ickenham people are tremendous”, Manjit told ICN. “What makes a shop tick is really the nature of the customers and the atmosphere within the shop. For me, every day is a new day and it really has been a joy working here – which is why I volunteered to continue.” Great news, but let’s remember to help them – and ourselves – by posting early this Christmas!
AFN
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