Sussex: Four Post Offices at risk of closure including Hove

The Post Office has announced that 115 branches are at risk of closure or transfer to other retail partners or postmasters, leaving around 1,000 jobs at risk.

Included in the list is the Melville Road branch in Hove, the Brighton Road branch in Lancing,  the Devonshire Square branch in Bexhill and the Leylands Road branch in Burgess Hill.

Hundreds of other headquarter roles could also be cut as part of the streamlining move.

A Post Office spokesman said: “We are considering a range of options to reduce our central costs.

“This includes considering the future of our remaining directly managed branches (DMBs), which are loss-making.

The Devonshire Square branch in Bexhill (Image: Google) “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.”

Post Office chairman Nigel Railton said it will offer “a new deal for postmasters” by increasing their share of revenue and giving them a greater say in the running of the business.

In the announcement at the Post Office headquarters in London today, Mr Railton said: “The Post Office has a 360-year history of public service and today we want to secure that service for the future by learning from past mistakes and moving forward for the benefit of all postmasters.

“We can, and will, restore pride in working for a business with a legacy of service, rather than one of scandal.”

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The 115 branches put at risk are Crown Post Offices located in city centres and staffed by Post Office employees.

They are the only remaining branches directly owned by the Post Office, down from close to 400 in 2010.

Retailers such as WH Smith, Tesco, Morrisons and the Co-op operate around 2,000 Post Offices across the country.

The rest of the network – about 9,000 Post Offices – is operated by independent postmasters.