Hammersmith Wins Post Office lottery

Three post offices in Hammersmith and Fulham will stay open

Half of the six post offices threatened with closure in Hammersmith and Fulham were saved in a shock decision on Wednesday.

The Starch Green sub-post office branch at 7 King’s Parade in Askew Road, W6, the Kenyon Street branch in Fulham and the branch at 146 Shepherd's Bush Road, W6 will remain open.

The post offices in W6 and SW6 by Post Office Ltd made up almost half of the seven across London that have been saved from closure.

Previously, the Shepherd's Bush Road branch was named by post office watchdog Postwatch as one of the top five closures in London it is most worried about.

Hammersmith and Fulham Councillor Paul Bristow said: "With the help of local residents, we did our homework and presented Post Office Ltd with a dossier which they simply couldn’t argue with.

"When we called them in for our public meeting on March 19, they confessed that they did not know about the fifty flats for blind and partially-sighted residents at Pocklington Lodge, near the Askew Road branch.

"I’d like to thank the residents who worked so hard on the campaign to save the post offices."

Ealing, Acton and Shepherd’s Bush MP Andy Slaughter said: "This is a good result, especially in Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith.  To save five of eight threatened branches, when only seven in total have been reprieved in London is a great achievement.  It shows what the community can achieve by working together in a coordinated and organised way."

Three post office branches in the borough remain under threat. They are: 780 Fulham Road, 68 Askew Road and 88 Goldhawk Road.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council said it would seek an agreement with Post Office Ltd to move into the borough’s libraries.

Councillor Bristow said: “These services are essential, especially to the elderly and disabled, and we will do everything we can to save them."

May 8, 2008