The Post Office closure in How Wood will not be reviewed, it has been accounced. 

The Co-op said the post office branch in How Wood is unprofitable and they will end its business in the St Albans store.

Senior management from the branch told a meeting last Friday that the decision to close the Post Office facility would not be reviewed.

The meeting, organised by Councillors Aislinn Lee and Jay Baillie and attended by local District and Parish councillors and the Chair of Park Street Residents Association, heard that the Co-op would be pressing ahead with the closure despite the outrage that their announcement had provoked in the local community.

The Co-op’s representatives acknowledged both the strength of local feeling about the proposed closure, with more than 850 people already having signed a petition calling for retention of the facility, and also how vital the Post Office is for some of the less mobile and more vulnerable local residents.

Jay Baillie said: “It is extremely disappointing that a company like the Co-op, founded on the basis of mutual benefit, should take such a short-sighted view.

“There are hundreds of communities, many significantly smaller than Park Street, that manage to support Post office counters in shops up and down the country. This is just another example of a national chain, despite all of its warm words, putting boosting profits before communities and the individuals within them.”

Councillor Aislinn Lee added: “It is fantastic to see all the community coming together to fight for our Post Office.

"If the Co-op is going ahead with the closure you can be confident that we will continue to explore every avenue possible to find an alternative within Park Street. We have already started with this part of the campaign.”

Of the 600 online petition signatures, 65 per cent said they used the Post Office at least once a fortnight.