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Bradley Arcade Post office to close
22/12/2023
Councillor begins fight to keep a post office counter service in Bretch Hill
A Banbury community is set to lose its local Post Office.
From January 10 the post office counter service in the Londis store at Bradley Arcade on the Bretch Hill estate will close.
The news came out yesterday when a consultation began on what the Post Office national team described a “temporary closure”, which they said was due to the resignation of the postmaster and the withdrawal of the premises for use as a Post Office.
The Londis store is run by Faqir Sharma who has provided a post office counter service for 36 years.
Mr Sharma told Banbury FM it is no longer viable to keep the Post Office open, with Post Office Limited demanding long opening hours, seven days a week, with trained staff on hand throughout. It also required a large area of the shop’s floor space.
Post Office Limited says they are investigating the options available which will enable them to reinstate a Post Office service to the local community. But they warn that any future service needs to be sustainable for the person operating the service, and for Post Office Limited.
Mark Cherry is one of the Labour Councillors for the ward. He says he is doing all he can to try and find a way of keeping a local Post Office service for the people of Bretch Hill.
“If you want to access postal services and you’re not online you will have to go to Ruscote Arcade, off Highlands near the Musketeer pub, or into the town centre to WH Smith.
“It’s another service lost in the Bretch Hill community. We lost the General Practice surgery about five years ago. To lose a service that people rely on is the big body blow.”
Councillor Cherry has already written to other elected members and those with input to community cohesion on Bretch Hill, hoping a solution can be found.
The Post Office Limited consultation runs until January 18 and people are invited to have their say by emailing comments@postoffice.co.uk, online, or by writing to “FREEPOST Your Comments”.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam