Post office pops up in church room
Datchet: New councillor succeeds in setting up four-hour-a-week community service
A pop-up post office has opened in the village – two years after the permanent facility closed its doors.
The main village post office closed in 2015 when the owners retired and a replacement shop later closed in January 2017.
Resident Allen Corcoran joined Datchet Parish Council in June last year and was set the task of finding a new post office location ‘as soon as possible’.
He said since the closure of the post office counter in 2017, ‘attempts to establish another one have proved challenging’.
Allen contacted the area post office manager and together they talked to a number of local business but they were all unable to commit to operating a post office.
“I was helping St Mary's Church to organise their 2019 Christmas fair, I wondered whether they might be interested to host a temporary post office for the community,” said
Allen, who suggested this to the church.
The Parochial Church
Council (PCC) agreed to host an ‘Outreach’ post office in its community room at St Mary’s Church in London Road.
The pop-up post office opened on Tuesday, January 7 .
Allen added: “It was very successful with plenty of customers.”
A staff member from the main post office in Yateley, Hampshire is working at the pop-up store in Datchet for four hours every week.
The pop-up post office is open every Tuesday from 8.30am to 12.30pm at St Mary’s Church.
It does not sell foreign currency, do passports (but you can get a form there) or electricity key top-ups.