Post Office to shut down
By Jo Deeks on Thursday, 24th August 2000.
A VILLAGE seems set to be without a Post Office unless new premises and a new postmaster are found within a month.
The Post Office has given formal notice that the office at 17/19 High Street, West Wratting, will close on Tuesday, September 19, due to the retirement of the postmaster.
If the Post Office closes, residents of West Wratting will face a two-and-a-half-mile journey to Weston Colville or a three-mile one to Balsham, to which pensions and allowance books would be transferred.
In an extra blow to the area, the nearby West Wickham post office is in a similar situation and due to close by the end of September, unless it can also find alternative premises and a suitable person to staff it.
Joy Haynes, Post Office Counters retail network manager, said the search would continue for suitable premises and a person to provide post office services at West Wratting.
She apologised for the inconvenience and said: “Despite our best efforts, we have so far been unable to find either a suitable replacement individual or premises.
“The search goes on for an applicant who can provide suitable post office premises and meet our appointment criteria to help us to continue providing our customers in West Wratting with the service they value and trust,” Ms Haynes said.
Jane Andersen, the postmistress at West Wratting, said she and her husband were returning to Derbyshire and had planning consent for the Post Office to be demolished and replaced by a house.
Cynthia Swadling is retiring from West Wickham post office after 13 years.
The Post Office has given formal notice that the office at 17/19 High Street, West Wratting, will close on Tuesday, September 19, due to the retirement of the postmaster.
If the Post Office closes, residents of West Wratting will face a two-and-a-half-mile journey to Weston Colville or a three-mile one to Balsham, to which pensions and allowance books would be transferred.
In an extra blow to the area, the nearby West Wickham post office is in a similar situation and due to close by the end of September, unless it can also find alternative premises and a suitable person to staff it.
Joy Haynes, Post Office Counters retail network manager, said the search would continue for suitable premises and a person to provide post office services at West Wratting.
She apologised for the inconvenience and said: “Despite our best efforts, we have so far been unable to find either a suitable replacement individual or premises.
“The search goes on for an applicant who can provide suitable post office premises and meet our appointment criteria to help us to continue providing our customers in West Wratting with the service they value and trust,” Ms Haynes said.
Jane Andersen, the postmistress at West Wratting, said she and her husband were returning to Derbyshire and had planning consent for the Post Office to be demolished and replaced by a house.
Cynthia Swadling is retiring from West Wickham post office after 13 years.
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