Acocks Green Village’s Post Office may move location following an announcement by the Post Office about its national network of Crown (owned by the Post Office) branches.

The Post Office want to replace 70 of these Crown branches, including Acocks Green, with post offices based in other shops. Crucially they have promised that there will be no closures, saying if retail partners cannot be found, the Crown branch will remain.

There is currently no information about where the Acocks Green Post Office might move to, simply a promise from the Post Office that it will be in the same vicinity. As and when any plans are developed they will be subject to a local consultation period of six weeks. During this consultation residents and businesses can object to plans to partner with a particular retailer, but they will not be able to object to the principle of the replacement of the Crown branch with a franchised operation.

While a recent survey by Consumer Focus found that waiting times in franchised offices were shorter than in Crown branches, this does not guarantee that a move to a franchised operation would be good for Acocks Green. Residents will rightly want to be assured that, should a move go ahead, it will be to a location as convenient as the current site and have opening hours and service levels as good as if not better than the current Crown branch.

I will be keeping a close eye on this story as it develops.