Residents have re-opened a shop after its former postmistress was jailed for stealing from the till.

Oxford Lord Mayor Val Smith was joined by novelist Graham Greene's widow, Vivien, yesterday to mark the opening of the new community shop at Church Way, Iffley.

The grocery store will be open six days a week, while Post Office Counters has appointed sub-postmistress Audrey Richards to be there three mornings a week.

The shop and the post office facilities have been shut since May. Now, following a number of charity donations, more than 20 volunteers will take turns to work at the shop. After the opening, residents celebrated, pointing out that the store would particularly well-used by pensioners, who have been forced to travel to Rose Hill or Donnington to cash their pensions.

Jane Townsend-Coles, of Abberbury Road, was the first customer to pick up her pension. She said: "This is so convenient for everyone in the village, particularly pensioners."

The Mayor, who cut a ribbon to mark the opening of the new store, said: "This is just the sort of place a tiny village needs, where people can pick up their groceries and have a good gossip." Mrs Greene, who lives in Iffley and supported the campaign to re-open the store, added: "This shop will make all the difference for villagers."

But there was little mention of the post office's chequered history. Former postmistress Nada Bibic was jailed for 12 months in May for swindling £30,650 from the two Oxford post offices she ran, in Iffley and Florence Park.

Sue Reynolds, who helped to set up the Iffley Community Shop Association with her friend, Corinne Grimley-Evans, said: "The idea is not to run the store at a profit, because in order to do that we would have to put prices up."

Story date: Tuesday 26 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.