Campaign Launched to Save Bracknell Post Office

A petition has been launched to save the Princess Square Post Office after TG Jones said it will shut its Bracknell store in January.

Warfield parish councillor Jo Hawley started the campaign urging the Post Office to find a new town-centre site once the branch inside TG Jones closes. No replacement site has yet been secured and the Post Office says it is considering applications from businesses interested in running a new branch.

"I am a regular user of the Post Office and every time I go in there is a queue. People are posting parcels and letters, taking out cash, getting travel money. It's a vital service that people use every day and it's closing only because the shop it sits inside is closing, not because there is no demand."

The town-centre branch currently provides services including banking, post, vehicle tax and Passport Check & Send. Customers have been directed to alternatives such as Priestwood and Great Hollands, but neither currently offers the Passport Check & Send service.

"The provision of a Post Office service to our customers in the area is important to us."

Residents say losing the branch will be a blow. Margo van der Laan now uses the Priestwood Post Office but wants a central town centre service. "We do need a central Bracknell Post Office like we used to have opposite the banks in the old High Street."

Another resident, Chantelle Saunders, called the loss a "nightmare", adding: "You have to travel out your way to find one."

"It's about more than just convenience. The Post Office helps people who can't easily get these services elsewhere. Not everyone is confident doing things online. Losing a Post Office branch is an accessibility issue especially for older people."

Bracknell's former Crown Post Office operated in the High Street before services moved to WHSmith in Princess Square in 2015. That store later became TG Jones following the sale of WHSmith's high street business.

Katie French, Local Democracy Reporter