Post office set to close

Residents are being urged to campaign to save postal services in Farndon after it was announced the village post office was set to close in December.

The subpostmistress, Mrs Christine Barlow, is resigning for personal reasons.

It is unclear whether the general store that shares the post office building on Main Street is closing too.

The clerk to Farndon Parish Council, Mr Stan Leveroni, said: “Quite a few elderly people and young mothers rely on it, as do lots of smaller villages nearby.

“It is not just the people of Farndon who need it but those from East Stoke, Elston, Thorpe, Hawton, Cotham, Syerston and others too.”

The MP for Newark, Mr Patrick Mercer, has already written to Post Office Ltd expressing his concern about the potential loss of a post office in Farndon, which has about 2,500 residents.

The local county councillor, Mrs Sue Saddington, said although she did not know the reason for the closure, the Government withdrawal of services such as car tax and television licence payments from post offices inevitably reduced profits.

Mrs Saddington said: “This needs to stop. The heart is being ripped out of village life.

“People used to meet in the post office. Until you lose your post office you do not know what a tremendous loss it is to the community and how inconvenient it is.

“It leaves such a massive vacuum.

“My one hope is that the Government does not see this as an opportunity to save some money by not replacing it.”

Farndon Post Office was not on the closure list released by the Government this year.

Mrs Saddington urged Farndon residents and people in surrounding villages to start a petition, which she would present at the next meeting of Nottinghamshire County Council on October 23.

Post Office Ltd, which operates postal services, said: “The subpostmistress has tendered her resignation and is withdrawing the premises as is her right.

“The projected closure date is December 11. This represents a full notice period.

“We are actively seeking a subpostmaster or mistress to take on the branch.”

The spokesman said whoever took on the business would have to have premises.

He said if there were no premises Farndon’s post office service was likely to end.

“Farndon was obviously not on the list of projected closures so we certainly feel that there is a future for a branch there,” the spokesman said.

The parish council cannot operate a commercial venture so cannot take on the post office.

Mrs Barlow declined to comment.

Anyone interested in taking on the post office can call Post Office Ltd on 0845 560 16260.