Post Office closures

We must confess to being ambivalent about the fate of post offices. In fact, we've always considered the fact that "the countryside" gets so worked up about closures as evidence that the countryside communities aren't everything they're cracked up to be by Daily Mail readers.

If your community relies on a dingy spot to buy stamps and pay your TV license, then it's a pretty fragile sort of a community in the first place. Give us Brockley MAX, the Broca and the Telegraph Hill Festival any day of the week.

And as for people who rely on their services, we're still not convinced that they offer much that other shops and the internet can't do better. The digitally dispossessed? Not as long as there are public libraries offering free access.

However, we never expect to be in the majority on this kind of issue and those who think Post Offices are national treasures will be heartened by Mayor Bullock's latest pronouncement:

Mayor condemns Post Office closure announcement but pledges to fight on

Sir Steve Bullock, the Mayor of Lewisham, has condemned an announcement made today that three local post offices are to be closed. Hither Green Lane, Lee and New Cross Road post offices have been earmarked for closure this Autumn.

Commenting he said: "This is unacceptable. The decision flies in the face of local opinion and will be condemned by councillors of every party in Lewisham. Lewisham residents have been let down by Post Watch - the so called ‘watchdog for Postal services’. Their failure to oppose these closures, undermined the case made by the Council and many others locally.

“This battle is not over yet. I will look at what further options are open, including legal action, and an investigation of other ways in which those post offices can be kept open."

Brockley's services remain untouched.