Cllr Tom Simon (right) with Andrew Thornton at the opening

On Tuesday 5^th October the new ‘post office local’ service at Budgens supermarket on Haverstock Hill opened. Budgen’s owner, Andrew Thornton laid on champagne and nibbles for the crowd that had gathered for the official opening and the red ribbon was cut shortly after 1pm.

This fantastic news marks the culmination of a great deal of perseverance by local residents and the Belsize Liberal Democrats. We are delighted to have been able to facilitate a deal between the Post Office and Andrew Thornton.

The new post office counter at Budgens offers most standard post office services and is open whenever the shop is open, so 0700-2300 Monday – Saturday and 1200-1800 Sunday. We think these opening hours are some very tasty icing on a wonderful cake – they should mean that this critical local service is accessible to everyone, regardless of their hours of work or lifestyle. Also, Budgens has excellent disabled access.

Please note that this is a 12-month trial by the Post Office. We must make the most of it to ensure its success, so please do come and use your new local post office as much as possible.

Cllr Tom Simon said “I’m so happy that we have finally been able to deliver on the promise we made to local residents. We know that the closure of our sub-post offices in recent years was a huge blow to the community and that bringing some kind of postal service back was a number one priority for many residents. I’d really like to thank Andrew Thornton for making this possible”. Local campaigner Anne Ward said “This will be an enormous help to many old people in the area, and it’s great that it is open on evenings and weekends”.

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