New location proposed for Rochdale Post Office

The Post Office is proposing to move Rochdale Town Centre Post Office from its current location at The Esplanade, opposite the Town Hall, to create a new open-plan branch at 9-10 South Parade, Rochdale, OL16 1LR, just 90 metres from its current site.

The Post Office is inviting customers and interested parties to give their comments on the move in an eight week public consultation.

The move is said to be part of major modernisation programme across the Post Office network designed to make it easier for customers to do business, through longer opening hours and modern open plan environments.

Post Office Regional Network Manager Simon Drinkwater said: “We understand how important having a Post Office is to residents in Rochdale and we are confident that this new modern branch will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future.

“The modernisation is part of a major investment programme to convert the Post Office network to new-style branches and this investment, the largest in the history of the Post Office, makes a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.”

The new Rochdale Post Office would have a mixture of open plan and traditional screened counter positions and a Post Office serving point at the retail counter - a new concept for delivering Post Office services with Post Office products and services available alongside retail transactions during shop opening hours.

Opening hours at the proposed new location would be 09:00–17:30 Monday to Saturday, offering customers an extra three and a half hours on Saturday afternoons to access Post Office products and services.

During the public consultation Post Office Ltd welcomes feedback on any issues customers would like considered before a final decision is taken on this proposal. The consultation will close on 24 January 2014. Submissions can be made during the consultation by Freepost YOUR COMMENTS to Post Office Ltd, via email to comments@postoffice.co.uk, via the Customer Helpline on 08457 22 33 44 or Textphone 08457 22 33 55.

The Post Office, now independent of Royal Mail, is the largest retail network in the UK, with over 11,500 branches. It is also one of the fastest growing financial services companies and is developing its online and telephony services.