Working to Save a Post Office on North End Road
Rt Hon Greg Hands MP for Chelsea and Fulham reporting back
Greg recently visiting the current North End Road Post Office
As an avid reader of FulhamSW6.com, I’m sure that you will already be aware that the Post Office, within the Co-op, at 254 North End Road is closing. The Post Office is set to leave the premises by September next year, with the site being redeveloped by Lidl.
It is highly unlikely at this stage that the Post Office will be retained on the site. Lidl has received planning permission from Hammersmith and Fulham Council to redevelop the site without a Post Office.
Lidl have missed a trick by not including a Post Office in their planning application. I know that many residents rely on the service and convenience that the Post Office on North End Road provides. Lidl, like the current Co-op, could have benefited from the footfall that having a Post Office in the store generates.
Like me, I am sure that you will be concerned about the potential loss of the Post Office on North End Road. The need for residents to be able to have a local Post Office is in some ways greater than ever before.
Locally, high street banks and building societies have closed or are closing branches. For example, Santander closed its branch on North End Road last year and Nationwide’s Fulham Broadway branch closed this month.
Banks and building societies often attribute the decision to close branches to the rise of internet banking. They say that the number of personal and business customers moving to use online services has led to a fall in demand for in-person services. However, this does not address the fact that online banking is still not an option for everybody. Not everyone has access to the internet or can indeed use it.
Local Post Offices can help fill this void, providing the in-person services that some customers need. They are well placed to do so. A couple of years ago, the Post Office successfully renegotiated its commercial agreement with banks and building societies to enable it to provide services on their behalf.
Under the terms of the agreement, through till 2025, 99% of personal customers and 95% of small and medium-sized business customers can bank through one of the UK’s 11,500 Post Office branches.
Their ability to provide these services is one of the reasons I’m determined to push Post Office Ltd to retain a Post Office in the vicinity of North End Road. I was also assured by the Post Office, when Fulham Crown Post Office closed in 2003, that there would continue to be a major branch on or just off North End Road.
To show the local demand in the vicinity of North End Road, I have started a petition calling on the Post Office to retain a Post Office in the area. You can sign my petition by going to:
The more support the petition receives the more pressure we will be able to put on Post Office Ltd to retain what is an important local amenity.
Kind regards,
Greg Hands
The Rt Hon Greg Hands MP
Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham
You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for @GregHands
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October 31, 2022