Basildon's main Post Office to go into WH Smith

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BASILDON’S main post office is set to close.

The East Square branch could shut with bosses looking to set up shop in WH Smith, 50m down the road in Town Square.

The Post Office insists no staff members will be made redundant and all 15 employees will be offered transfers to other branches, or a job at WH Smith.

The proposed move is part of a national scheme to ensure Post Office stores no longer rely on Government funding and are profitable and sustainable.

The Communication Workers’ Union said many members, who have taken strike action over fear of closures, burst into tears when the plans were revealed yesterday morning.


Gary Bond, representative for the south Essex branch, said: “WH Smith is a shop primarily and, based on what we have seen in the past, the post office will just be shoved at the back of it.

“The public are going to have to get through a busy shop to get to the counter. There are likely to be longer queues and the service will simply not be as good as it is now.

“Based on what is on offer paywise from WH Smith, I don’t think any of the current staff will want to transfer over.”

A six-week public consultation has been launched to gather feedback from the community.

If the relocation goes ahead, the post office could be in its new home by March.

As WH Smith is open Sundays, Post Office bosses said customers would benefit from an extra five hours of service every week.

The Basildon branch is one of 369 Crown stores across the country still owned directly by the Post Office.

More than 10,000 are run privately within retail stores.

Roger Gale, manager of the Post Office Crown network, said: “We are committed to keeping a post office branch in Basildon and to maintaining the same levels of service for our customers.

“We believe the best way for us to do this is to change the waywe operate the branch, so, if the move goes ahead, it will be run by WH Smith rather than by us directly.”