Fears over post office
RESIDENTS in Barrow-upon-Soar may be without a village Post Office as the Echo has been told the recently-closed establishment “may reopen elsewhere”.
The Echo was contacted by a concerned resident last week after the Post Office, in High Street, Barrow-upon-Soar, closed its doors on Thursday, May 11.
The Post Office says the establishment is “temporarily closed due to operational reasons”.
The resident told the Echo the closure had already caused issues and it was well-used.
They said: “I’ve needed to post signed letters and I’ve not been able to so, I need to go to other villages or Loughborough, it’s annoying.
“A lot of people went in and out of there, it was very busy and used by people from the Wolds villages.
“It tended to be busy from eight in the morning until five at night.”
And now the Echo has been told the village Post Office may not open again at the current premises.
A spokesperson for the Post Office told the Echo: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this temporary closure.
“We may not reopen at the current location, we may reopen elsewhere.
“We are looking to see if there are alternative options to restore Post Office services in Barrow-upon-Soar.
“Alternative branches in the area include Quorn, Mountsorrel and Sileby.”
The Royal Mail sorting office, which is next door to the Post Office and overseen by the postmaster, has relocated its services following the temporary closure.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “Unfortunately the post office in Barrow has been closed for operational reasons by Post Office Ltd and Royal Mail has had to move its operation to Loughborough.
“Customers will see no change to their delivery service and they will continue to be served by the same postmen and women.
“Customers who need to collect undeliverable mail items can now do so at Loughborough delivery office.
“They do not have to travel to Loughborough if they don’t want to. Royal Mail offers a free redelivery service six days a week to customers’ homes or to another address in the same postcode area. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.”
An online petition, titled ‘Keep Barrow-upon-Soar Post Office’, has been started by a Barrow-upon-Soar business owner who fears there will not be a Post Office in the village.
So far the petition, which can be found by searching the title on change.org, has received more than 380 signatures.
It reads: “We have started this petition to gain support to keep a post office in Barrow as we believe all villages, especially one of this size, should have a post office.”
The full addresses for alternative Post Office branches are:
• Quorn Post Office, 14 Station Road, Quorn, Loughborough, LE12 8BS
• Mountsorrel Post Office, 77 Leicester Road, Mountsorrel, Loughborough, LE12 7AJ
• Sileby Post Office, 95 Swan Street, Sileby, Loughborough, LE12 7NN