Bromfield Post Office and Village Shop to close from the end of August – we need to think of alternative provision

Ludlow Farmshop has announced that Bromfield Post Office & Village Shop will close permanently on 31 August 2020. This is a big loss to Bromfield parish, whose residents have benefited from the convenience of a local store, along with postal and banking facilities. But the operation has been loss making for several years. Those losses, funded by the Earl of Plymouth trustees, have increased.

Covid-19 has been the final blow. With the temporary closure of The Clive and Ludlow Kitchen, and reduced trade on these reopening, no more losses can be sustained. It is expected that post office staff will be transferred to other parts of the business.

I don’t think we should give up on a post office service in Bromfield. The parish has an elderly population and many rely on the shop for newspapers and groceries, as well as post office services. Commenting as Shropshire Councillor for the parish and chair of the parish council, I think we should explore options for a post office service for at least a few hours a week in Bromfield.

Press Release: Bromfield Post Office and Village Shop

It is with great sadness that we have to confirm that the Bromfield Post Office & Village Shop will close permanently on the 31st August 2020.

As a business the post office has not covered its own costs for sometime and the recent pressure of the Covid-19 crisis has moved us to an untenable position in which we can no longer support the deficit. We have struggled with this decision and have looked at many options to retain the PO facility but have not found a suitable solution.

Several factors have led to this situation:

• Underuse and unprofitability of post office services
• Introduction of dual working for safety reasons
• Impact of Covid-19 on the site as a whole

All PO staff will be offered redeployment in other areas of the businesses and no redundancies are planned.

For enquiries please email Jon Edwards, MD at greatfood@ludlowfarmshop.co.uk or write to him at the following address:

Ludlow Farmshop
Bromfield, Ludlow
SY8 2JR

Post office closures

In March 2019, there were 11,638 post office branches in the UK. Most, 98%, were run by franchise partners or sub-postmasters, the remainder are Crown Post Offices. Between 1999 and 2009, more than 7,000 post offices closed, shrinking the network by 36%. Since then the decline has slowed dramatically, 430 post offices having closed and 116 opened.

The Post Office has an obligation to ensure that 95% of the rural population are within three miles of a post office. Bromfield is within two miles of Ludlow’s two post offices. At the end of March 2019 there were 6,131 post offices in rural locations in the UK, 53% of the network, and 5,507 post offices in urban locations.