Thriplow post office set to close

THRIPLOW post office is set to close after it was added to Post Office's regional hit list.

The post office, in Middle Street, is one of three additional offices in the area which was recommended for closure yesterday (Wednesday).

It looked as if the Thriplow office had been spared the axe when it was not named on the original hit list released earlier this year.

However, a six-week consultation period will now begin, after which a final decision will be made on its future.

Postmistress Helen Harbud said the news had come as a "real shock".

She said: "It's only just re-opened, so everyone has got used to having a post office again and now it looks like it's going to close down for good."

Indeed, Thriplow post office only re-opened in June.

It had been closed while Helen, who also runs the village shop on the site, underwent training so she could take over from the previous postmaster.

"We have a steady stream of customers now, a lot of people rely on the post office," she said.

She added that a petition in support of the post office will be launched shortly.

Cllr Peter Topping, who represents Thriplow on South Cambridgeshire District Council, said he hopes to arrange a village meeting in the next couple of weeks to discuss the potential closure.

He said: "It may sound like a cliche, but in Thriplow the post office and the village shop really are the heart of the community.

"Local people have worked so hard to get it back, so I find this move bizarre to say the least."

Cllr Topping is also concerned that it may be difficult for people to get to the next nearest post office.

"One of the reasons I assumed Thriplow was left off the original list was that the village doesn't have good public transport links," he said.

"All communities have vulnerable members, who don't have their own transport or who can't use the internet, and these are the people who will be most effected.

"We need to unite behind our post office," he said.

Post Office Ltd announced plans to close the Thriplow office, along with offices in Cottered and Hitchin, yesterday at the end of its initial consultation period.

As reported in The Crow in July, Arrington post office, which had been under threat of closure, will remain open as a sub-post office after Orwell postmaster Satnam Boora agreed to run it on a part-time basis.