Our Town Centre Post Office is taking shape!

It is great to see our new Oldham Town Centre Post Office taking shape in Spindles. While this is a temporary Post Office service that opened in June after the closure of the former service hosted by WHSmith’s, the new permanent branch will be housed at the same location as the temporary service is now.

It has been a long time coming. Back in 2019, when the future of the Crown Post Office on Lord St. was in doubt, we made it clear that moving our Post Office into a private franchise left it vulnerable. Even then, WHSmith’s long-term future in the shopping centre was uncertain. Despite thousands signing a petition, a Westminster Hall debate, and repeated warnings, our concerns were ignored.

Earlier this year, the situation we feared played out. Despite writing to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade in January to seek support to safeguard the future of the Post Office in Oldham; and to Post Office Ltd in March to receive assurances that there would be a continuity of a post office service in Oldham, we lost our service following the closure of WHSmith’s in May. Thanks to the hard work of the Council and Post Office Ltd., the loss of the town centre service was very short lived.

We believe that the solution that has been found will minimise disruption in the short term due to the continuity of service, and ensure a stable future for the branch in the long term, a branch which should be even better than the one it has replaced.

The building of the permanent branch is set for completion this autumn, a win for the people of Oldham who made their voices heard. Since the Post Office is a pillar of our community, we will continue to work with all partners to make sure Oldham town centre isn’t left behind when it comes to access to key services.

Yes, this is still a bare bones operation currently but we are on a path to a better future. From our business rates reforms which give a permanent rate relief for services like the Post Office and helps businesses which operate at multiple premises; and having its own unit which reverses the fading profile of the branch: we are delivering for our chain high street retailers, that are essential for driving footfall for independent and smaller retailers.