UK Post Office looks to avoid closures

The Post Office played down speculation that half of the 560 directly owned, high street post offices could close and said relocation and franchising would help to stem the network’s losses.

The state-owned group has been reviewing its Crown Offices and said that a significant number of the branches were not viable. Between 320 and 390 of its branches could support themselves, it said. The Post Office rents most of its Crown Office properties, and soaring rental costs have contributed to losses of about Pounds 70m a year. But the Post Office said yesterday that many uneconomic branches would be kept open for strategic reasons. “We need to be in the best locations, where the customers are, on the high street and in the shopping centres. If there are closures it will be very few,” it said.

The number of Crown Offices is likely to fall to about 500 next year, and the remaining branches will undergo changes to make them more commercial. The Post Office and the Communication Workers’ Union favoured relocation to cheaper premises nearby or doing deals with retailers such as convenience stores over outright closures, said both parties. Rebecca Bream