In recent years, as High Street Banks have closed their premises in Brentwood, Shenfield and Ingatestone, more use is being made of Post Office services to pay in money, as well as all the other assistance offered with passport applications, posting parcels and buying stamps.
However, there are some changes afoot for Post Office services in the Brentwood Borough, and I had a meeting last week with the national Post Office Limited team to find out what is going on.
In Ingatestone, a temporary postmaster is in place after a number of issues meant the village’s Post Office services had been disrupted. In Shenfield, the Morrisons Daily store which replaced the former McColl’s shop, is due to close after Morrisons could not achieve a breakeven position in that site. This means the Shenfield Broadway Post Office located in the store will close on 13th April but efforts are being made to find a new location within Shenfield. This could be in the other Morrison’s store on Hutton Road, or somewhere else. If you think you could run a Post office this is the link to the website where Post Office Limited is now inviting expressions of interest to apply for Shenfield Broadway Post Office:
https://runapostoffice.co.uk/branch/shenfield-broadway-post-office-brentwood-cm15-8nr
Interest needs to be registered by 16th April.
And in Brentwood, the town’s main Post Office, which moved to WH Smiths when the Baytree Centre was refurbished, is facing some change as WH Smith’s High Street business has been acquired by Modella Capital.
Modella is very enthusiastic about having Post Offices in their stores, as they bring footfall into those shops and generate significant revenues so is in talks with Post Office Limited about how Post office services can remain in Brentwood High Street.
Post Office Limited has assured me it will continue to adhere to its Access Criteria set by HM Government and meet its requirement to maintain 11,500 branches across the UK. I will keep a close eye on what happens across the constituency, and please let me know if you have any concerns.
