FIVE Crown Post Offices were named this week on a death list of branches facing closure, including branches in Westminster – Baker Street, Paddington Quay, Vauxhall Bridge Road Victoria, Lupus Street Pimlico, and at the Aldwych.
While some franchises are already run by individual postmasters, the five are a part of the portfolio owned by the Post Office.
The company, under new leadership, is now looking for operators who could take them over before deciding if they should shut.
It follows the closure of the Eccleston Street Crown Post Office in Belgravia in August.
Murad Qureshi, a former Labour London Assembly Member who was involved in the campaign to save Eccleston Street branch, called on the new Labour government to “step in”.
He said: “If you cut the ones in Westminster, you lose something which not only local residents appreciate, but also local, small and medium-sized businesses across central London.
“The post office is a front-line service that a lot of people depend on. I think people feel reassured to have a post office on the high street. You can rely on the post office to sort out your applications for passport and driving licences.
“The post office has qualified people to deal with issues and they have so much expertise.
“If we lose them all in one fell swoop I’m not sure that’s going to be very helpful to either residents or businesses.”
He added: “People still use cash for basic transactions, post offices are that last port of call for cash.
“Yesterday I went to Paddington Quay to exchange some currency.
“Why did I go there? Because I feel confident in the rates they give me. I just don’t feel confident about the rates they’ll give me around Paddington station, because they’re clearly going to have a mark-up. I think that’s the thing people have always had with a post office, reassurance.”
Mr Qureshi called for the government to take action, and said: “I think the government needs to step in more.
“It’s early days but this is an opportunity for them to show their colours, and that there is a better way of doing this and I think it would resonate very well.’
Up to 32 Post Office branches across London could close as part of a national shake-up aimed at restructuring the taxpayer-owned business.
Across the capital more than 1,000 workers could find their roles at risk as the company looks to streamline office operations.
It is facing a host of challenges, such as stiff competition from rival parcel operators like Evri and fewer people sending letters, with revenues for its branches being hit as a result.
The shake-up comes as the long-running inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal heads into its final stages.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “We are considering a range of options to reduce our central costs.
“This includes considering the future of our remaining Directly Managed Branches, which are loss-making.
“We have long held a publicly-stated ambition to move to a fully franchised network and we are in dialogue with the unions about future options for the DMBs.”
