THE saga surrounding the future of Ely’s post office branch has taken a fresh turn this week with the announcement that the service could move into the Premier Convenience store in High Street.
The post office’s current operator, Lloydspharmacy, has resigned is management and the existing premises will no longer be available for use from November, with Lloyds hoping to move in with the St Mary’s Street GP ractice.
Mobile phone retailer Phones4U has applied for planning permission to move into the premises once Lloyds has moved.
On Tuesday, the Post Office announced that an application has been received from the owners of Premier Convenience, at 29 High Street, to take over the service.
The Post Office is now inviting residents to give their comments on the move – a distance of about 100 metres from its current premises - in a six week public consultation.
Post Office regional network manager, Julia Marwood, said: “We understand how important having a post office is to residents in Ely and we are confident that the new branch will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future.
“The modernisation is part of a major investment programme to convert the Post Office network to new-style branches. This investment, the largest in the history of the Post Office, makes a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.”
The new Ely Post Office would have five serving positions – two open-plan, two screened counters and a Post Office serving point installed at the retail counter
The proposed opening hours would be Monday to Saturday: 7am-10pm and Sunday: 8am-9pm.
The Post Office says that customers would benefit from an extra 57 hours a week to access the service, including Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
A Lottery terminal would also be added to the branch if the proposal goes ahead.
The consultation closes on October 15. Submissions can be made during the consultation by freepost YOUR COMMENTS to Post Office Ltd, via e-mail to comments@postoffice.co.uk, via the customer helpline: 08457 22 33 44 or Textphone 08457 22 33 55.
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