The Post Office has just issued a consultation on closing Elmswell Post Office (next to the Co-op) and moving it into the Pharmacy – ie: north of the railway line. The corporate line is that this is good news, opening hours will be slightly longer (by 30 minutes), it won’t be shut for lunch, with the only difference in servcies that you won’t be able to buy Premium Bonds nor on the spot travel insurance. However – previous local experience has shown that a new service may be far from better. In Woolpit, where the Post Office has moved from it’s own building to a counter within the Co-op, villagers complain of longer (and confusing) queues, lack of privacy and simply the fact that two good village services have been squashed into one.
At Elmswell the Post Office will now be in the Pharmacy which is probably not frequented as often as the Co-op is. It may also suffer from the same problems currently happening in Woolpit. The change is expected to happen in October or November this year. Ultimately if it doesn’t work – does Elmswell lose a Post Office altogether?
The consultation has just opened and you can access it via www.postofficeviews.co.uk and follow the links. Elmswell’s number is 063112. If this is important to you, please take part in the consultation before it closes on 18 August 2015.
Rachel Eburne 
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