Michael Fabricant opened the new Post Office in Wheel Lane on Friday 19th July. “It replaces the old one at the top of Beacon Street” says Michael “but this new location will have far longer opening hours extended to 7 days a week from 8am to 10pm. It will have three serving positions: a mixture of two screened counter positions, with a Post Office serving point provided for use at the retail counter – a new concept for delivering Post Office services alongside retail transactions during shop opening hours. This is a major improvement to Post Office services in this part of Lichfield.”

Post Office Regional Network Manager for Central England, Adrian Wales, said: “We understand how important having a Post Office is to customers in the area and we are confident that this new modern branch will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future. The changes to the branch are part of a three-year investment programme, the largest in the history of the Post Office, that will see around 6000 branches – about half the Post Office network – converting to new-style branches. The investment marks a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.”

The new Post Office is located at 46-48 Wheel Lane, Lichfield, WS13 7EA.

The Post Office, now independent of Royal Mail (which the Government plans to privatise), 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.

Photograph shows front row left to right:- Harjinder Sanjhera (Owner), Kath Holyoak (Shop Manager), Michael Fabricant, Ravinder Sanghera (Owner), and Martin Lahert (Senior Manager, Post Office).