Post Office turns down tractor firm's site offer

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THE Post Office has pledged to give Great Finborough back its office after turning down the offer of a site nearby.

The village Post Office in Chaplins Newsagents, in Finborough Road, closed on January 19 and after reading about it in the Bury Free Press, the management of Tomlinson Groundcare wrote to the Post Office offering space in its premises about a mile away in Buxhall.

But the Post Office declined the offer writing to say there were three offices within three miles, though Google Maps shows the nearest is a 3.4 mile drive.

Paul Wright, sales manager for Tomlinson Groundcare, said they were surprised at the response and added: “We made it quite clear we were talking about Great Finborough.”

The company felt that as it was open six days a week and has plenty of car parking, it was the ideal site to supply a local need.

Mr Wright added: “It used to be handy because if you wanted to get some parts off quickly, you could just pop up there. Now you leave it until you’re on the way home or on the way in.”

A Post Office spokeswoman said: “Customers can be assured that it remains our intention to keep a Post Office service in Great Finborough and we are currently investigating the options available.

“Our priority is to maintain Post Office services to the local community and it is therefore important that any future service is sustainable for the person operating the service and for Post Office Ltd. We are working very hard to restore a Post Office service as quickly as possible.”

She apologised for the impression given in the letter saying that because they were involved in negotiations with others, they were restricted in what they could say in reply to Tomlinson’s offer.