Jen and Mark Milner.
Jugiong Motor Inn’s Mark and Jen Milner are the much loved operators and friendly faces of the village and the establishment, known for their hospitality and genuine love for Jugiong and the people who live there and frequent their business.
They have stepped up and stepped in for the community to keep as essential service open in Jugiong by taking over the Jugiong Post Office which now includes a cafe. The cafe will be open from 8:00am until 4:00pm.
Jen discussed the reopened Post Office with the Twin Town Times.
She said, “Jugiong has always had a post office or a post office sub-branch and it recently sold and the new owner tried to find someone to take over the service station and the sub-branch as well, but the people that took over the service station have opened a 24-hour self serve service station purely because they couldn’t find anyone to work there,” she said.
“In doing that we have no Post Office. The owner, who is a lovely man, Johnathon, tried really hard to keep it open and it was open for half a day, five days a week but it wasn’t economical or viable for him to do that, so he was really keen to find someone to take over and lease this part of the business and the post office was part of it.
“At the time when we took it over it was just a general store with essentials and a post office, but economically that wasn’t going to work, so we opened up a little cafe.
Jugiong has been screaming our for a cafe style shop front with highway clientele spreading themselves from the rec grounds in their camper vans to other establishments including the Motor Inn which has fast become known outside of Jugiong as an excellent food venue. The cafe will provide different food options and at a cost effective price. With Jen and Mark running the show, they can’t go wrong with the community support they have gained over the years from their hard work and the highway traffic will quickly catch on like they have with the Motor Inn. Without this, Jugiong would have no mail delivered there at all.
The cafe will be a great bonus she said, “We don’t have a mail service. The mail is delivered to the Post Office and people come down here and pick it up. It’s an essential part of our community. It’s also a good place for people to catch up. There’s a lot of people here that don’t see many people through the day, so it’s a bit of a social hub as well.
Not having to travel to Harden or Gundagai to collect your mail is a huge thing for our local community.”
“We operate the Jugiong Motor Inn and have done for seven years. It’s hard work. It’s 10 hours down here and still working full time there. As far as a community, the post office is an essential part of it and working in with our other business, we see lots of people we know.”
“The Motor Inn is essentially the local bar and restaurant, plus accommodation for tourists.”
“The cafe is doing your basic stuff like hamburgers, steak sandwiches, chicken burgers, chips, bacon and egg rolls, bacon and egg and sausage wraps. The bacon and egg rolls and wraps will be ready to go when people call in so they can grab it and run. There will also be sausage rolls and pies from Cootamundra’s Outback Bakery, fresh bread, milk – all the essentials that you need living in a small village, a distance away from shops.”
“We have a good range of essential stuff. Essentially we have done this because if we don’t, the town doesn’t have a Post Office.”
Good on you Mark and Jen, let’s get behind them and make it the success we know it will be.
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