Post Office Limited has launched a consultation on the closure of Bromfield Post Office which is to close on Monday 31 August. The Post Office is being closed because it is loss making at a time of dwindling margins due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The Post Office would not fund moving the facility into the Food Centre. The consultation letter (FAQ) insists that the closure is temporary but gives no information on what moves the Post Office is making to ensure continuity or reinstate services at Bromfield.
The consultation closes on 31 August. Email: comments@postoffice.co.uk
A working group set up by Bromfield Parish Council is making enquiries about setting up an outreach service to serve residents for a few hours a week.
The closure of the post office is a blow to many people used it. Customers do not just live in Bromfield. They come from Craven Arms, Onibury, Culmington, Stanton Lacey and Ludlow. The post office had built up a well-deserved reputation for a friendly and knowledgeable service, along with easy parking. Many customers also visited the food centre and the café.
At a well-attended meeting held on Zoom on 14 July, Bromfield Parish Council agreed to establish a small working group to look at the future of post office services in the Bromfield area. This follows a decision by Ludlow Farmshop to close the loss making Post office and Village Shop from the end of August. The meeting heard of the importance of the post office service not just to the residents of Bromfield but to people in surrounding parishes, Ludlow and Craven Arms. We also heard that the shop had lost money for many years and was being subsidised by the Plymouth Estate.
The meeting was positive in attitude. A representative of the estate indicated it would not have closed had Post Office Counters had provided financial support for a move into the Farmshop. Plymouth Estate was open to hosting the post office in the future if a way forward could be found. The meeting discussed having an outreach post office service until a long term arrangement could be put in place. A working group has been set up to look at this and the parish clerk is in discussions with the Post Office.
Audio recording of Bromfield Parish Council 14 July 2020. One hour, 17 minutes.