Local Post Office backed by Council to remain open
A local Post Office is once again part of the main postal network thanks to a Council backed campaign, local community support and new investment.
Murray Grove Post Office received over £250,000 from Hackney Council to remain open for the last five years. In this time, Postmaster Chandrakant Patel has improved services to meet growing customer demand.
The success has made it possible to hand Murray Grove back to Post Office Ltd to create a modern branch, offering longer opening hours with increased services. The branch will now offer bill payment, banking, benefits, postage, home-shopping returns, Local Collect, car tax and a selection of on-demand holiday money.
This latest chapter in the story of Murray Grove Post Office follows its closure in 2008 as part of Post Office Ltd programme to save money and it’s reopening in December 2010 with Hackney Council funding, after a hard-fought local campaign to reinstate the branch and the financial services it offers for banking and bill payment.
The Mayor of Hackney, Jules Pipe, together with local residents, businesses and ward Councillors, attended a special event to mark the handover and celebrate the continued services to Hackney’s local community. After the official ribbon-cutting, the audience moved to Provost Estate Community Hall opposite Murray Grove Post Office for tea and cake.
Annette, who works in the local Doctors Surgery said: “The Post Office is very convenient for us and the staff are always so approachable. It’s such a busy, local branch and provides an essential service to the community." Helen, Hackney resident for 45 years of Halstead Court, spoke about the difference that the Post Office has made to her over the last five years, “The Post Office has everything I need from my pension to stamps. It’s also a place where local people can meet – it’s a community place. The staff are friendly and so helpful and it’s so close for people who can’t walk further distances.”
It’s heart-warming to see this local branch, facing closure some five years ago, becoming the success story it is today with the continued support of the local community, businesses and the Council. Now part of Post Office ltd, local residents can continue to carry out necessary daily tasks on their doorstep for the many years come.
Thinking back to when, alongside businesses and the community, we petitioned and distributed leaflets to keep this post office open, it’s fantastic that today due to its ongoing popularity as heart of the local area, it is being incorporated back into the Post Office family. This is a great day for everyone who was involved in keeping this branch open and I’m overjoyed to see how it’s developed as a business.
We understand how important having a Post Office is to residents around Murray Grove and I am confident that this new modern Post Office will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future.
This modernisation is part of a major investment programme, the largest in the history of the Post Office and marks a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.