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St Johns Post Office at 1 Andover Road in Newbury to remain open after being incorrectly named by the BBC and The Independent on national branch closure list




A Newbury Post Office will not close after a petition to save it gained almost 800 signatures in a single day when it was incorrectly listed by news outlets as being at risk of being shut down.

It was announced yesterday (Wednesday) that up to 115 Post Office branches across the country could be shut down, leaving around 1,000 jobs at risk and several communities without access to postal services.

The closures would be part of a radical shake-up at the Post Office as the government-owned organisation attempts to combat losses.

St Johns Post Office
St Johns Post Office

St Johns Post Office in central Newbury was one of the 115 named on yesterday’s hit list published by national media organisations, but it has now been revealed that this was likely a mistake and the popular community business at 1 Andover Road is safe.

After postmaster Bhavisha Patel and her husband Vyomesh discovered that St Johns was on yesterday’s list, the couple rang the Post Office this morning (Thursday) and were told that their business was not at risk of being shut down.

They were also told that no list of branches facing potential had been publicly disclosed, meaning the list of 115 branches published yesterday was potentially leaked.

The Patels believe that one of the 115 branches named was St Johns, and media organisations such as the BBC and The Independent made the incorrect assumption that this referred to Newbury.

Bhavisha and Vyomesh Patel
Bhavisha and Vyomesh Patel

There are four St Johns Post Offices throughout the UK. The other three are located in Colchester, Worcester and Leeds.

Mr Patel has contacted the BBC to ask them to remove the shop from the list of 115 as he doesn’t want his customers to think St Johns will close.

He said: “They just got it wrong. It shouldn’t have been a guessing game. We’re not closing and they’re making our customers panic.”

After St Johns was named yesterday, Newbury MP Lee Dillon drew up a petition to help save the seemingly at risk Post Office.

The petition gained nearly 800 signatures in a single day – something Mr Dillon described as “remarkable” – showing an overwhelming tide of local support for one of the town’s most popular community businesses.

St Johns Post Office
St Johns Post Office

A statement from the MP’s office said: “After further discussions and clarification, it has been confirmed that this branch is not at risk of closure.

“While we are relieved, the initial information did cause understandable concern and underscored just how essential the post office is to our community.

“While we’re grateful that our local branch is safe, we remain concerned for communities nationwide still facing the prospect of closures.”

The Patels were heartened to find out about the petition to save their post office that gained nearly 800 signatures in a single day.

Mr Patel said he “got goosebumps” when he found out and said: “It was a really good feeling to be appreciated by customers. It was great to hear.”

Mrs Patel said of the whole fiasco: “It was really lovely to have all that love and support from people, but on the other hand it has created so much worry and anxiety as well with it.”



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