Berechurch Road sub-postmaster's use-us-or-lose-us plea
9:40am Friday 28th October 2011
A POSTMASTER issued a “use us or lose us” plea after a nearby branch closed.
Colchester’s Berechurch Road post office has shut, two years after being bailed out by Essex County Council.
Blackheath Post Office, in Mersea Road, is still open in the revamped McColl’s store.
But sub-postmaster Neil Wolton said business had been awful.
He said: “A lot of people think we are shut after the revamp. But we are still her.e “We did not want the revamp, but it does look brighter. ”
Mr Wolton urged more people to take advantage of services offered, including a non-charging cash machine.
He said the amount handed out in pension payments had dropped from nearly £200,000 a week to little more than £50,000.
Nationally, the number of post office customers has halved in the past 20 years.
Mr Wolton urged Colchester Council and Essex County Council to pass services, such as payments for speeding fines and parking tickets, to the offices to help keep them open.
He said: “I don’t really know how long we will be here. We have a ten-year lease, so we hope to stay.”
Mr Wolton criticised Essex County Council “for sticking its nose in” when it tried to reopen post offices. But he accepted it had good intentions.
Berechurch Road post office reopened in 2009 as part of a £1.5million scheme to get closed post offices back in business.
Harendra Patel was given £18,000 towards set-up costs, but the operation did not prove profitable.
Hitesh General Store and Newsagent, in which the office was housed, remains open.
Other offices reopened under the scheme included Naze Park in Walton; Panfield Lane in Braintree; Castle Hedingham; White Notley; Bradwell and Bicknacre.
An Essex County Council spokesman said: “We reopened ten sites, and eight are still open.
“White Notley has closed and that was the operator’s decision. Closure of Berechurch Road is an internal matter between them and the Post Office.’’