Exmouth Post Office - the facts.

Before I start, and if you take anything from this, subscribe to Exmouth Town Council's social media posts - they're factual and without politics! And please, staff of the post office - I'm happy to talk if you want to, this is hard for you all, I'm aware.

Given the sudden interest of political groups in 'Saving the Post Office', I feel it is important to take a look at the actual facts, from what I hope is an Independent viewpoint from a councillor where the post office is situated, and remove it from the realms of political point scoring. It's too important for that. Given what follows, I would ask both the Lib Dems and MP David Reed to work together with the town council and myself and the other ward members. We all want the same thing!

When I initially posted on Facebook about the recently announced closure of the Post Office, I did so from a place of outrage, but ultimately ignorance - I knew nothing of how the Post Office operates, how TG Jones were involved and what had been done behind the scenes already.

This was just dumped on us when, seemingly without warning, TG Jones put up closing down signs and a closure notice from the post office began circulating.

However, since then I have learned how these processes work.

TG Jones runs the office as a franchisee of The Post Office. They took this over in all of the Smith's store they took on as part of that deal. They employ the staff, maintain the office and so on.

The Post Office runs zero post offices themselves in the UK, since 2025 when they moved to a completely franchise / sub postmaster run model, which then sell Royal Mail products and undertake banking provision.

They exist to coordinate the franchising of offices and to act in situations such as this, when offices are under threat of closure.

Since the announcement of the closure the SW representative from the Post Office has been very helpful, talking to anyone who asks, about the processes involved, what they've done, are doing and will do to ensure that going forward Exmouth has a sizeable post office. They have been working with the town council and as I say, have been very open.

They had predicted there may be an issue with TG Jones and begun looking for replacement partners.

They have advertised for those interested to put their names forward and had a very good response.

They have identified 3 potential bids who have the required criteria to run a post office ie a place to put it, good financial standing and so on.

They are currently working through this process to find which one they feel most comfortable going with.

They can't reveal who is interested, where they will go etc as this is commercially sensitive but they will when they are able.

This process can take time, but as a town we would, I'm sure, want to be certain what we get is permanent and won't be under threat again in a few years.

Now, do I believe all of this?

Yes - I think I do. The Post Office has nothing to gain from not being truthful. They've already seen how important it is to us and that we'll not let it go.

Will there be a post office in Exmouth after September?

The PO are open about this. There will be a gap between the old one closing and a new one opening. They can't say how long that will be, but they're doing what they can to minimise it. This may mean a temporary post office and it may not, unfortunately.

What do we do in the meantime?

I've been told by the PO (and didn't know this tbh) that all of the banking you do at TG Jones can be done in all of the smaller post offices around the town so while that's inconvenient, it's not as bad as having to go to Exeter as some have feared.

Can we get a banking hub in the town?

Banking hubs are usually reserved for towns with no high street banks and no post office provision. Even if the main post office closes, we still have both. I thank our MP and Mayor for their application to have this considered, but I'm not sure we meet the criteria.

Can we have a temporary post office in the meantime?

I can say they're looking in to it. They make no promises, as this will be a time consuming exercise for them, but nonetheless it's good to know they're at least considering it. They'll announce if they are going to go ahead with it in due course.

Can we put a post office on the ground floor of the Town Hall?

The Town Hall in it's current state isn't suitable for a permanent post office, as any alterations would take longer than I the post office have to get this done.

Furthermore, a post office needs to be run and managed by someone - the town council is not in a position to do that, nor experienced in setting up such things. The amount of renovation required in order to ensure safety of staff and the large amounts of money involved are prohibitively expensive.

What should I do now?

Keep watching and listening for news.

Support the campaign for a banking hub if that does work out.

Blaming The Post Office gets us nowhere - it's potentially counter - productive as they're the ones trying to help the town.

Ask your MP to work with Town ward members at the county and district Councils.

Be patient - this may take a while but unless anything changes we're not losing our main post office permanently.

Most of all, for factual information READ EXMOUTH TOWN COUNCIL'S FB POSTS!

They're excellent.

I will keep in contact with the town council and the post office, as will fellow ward members and keep you updated.