Sketty branch post office to reopen

A POST office in Swansea is set to reopen more than a year after it closed, leaving businesses in the area with no banking services.

The Sketty Cross branch has been taken over by Gareth Milne, the director of Swansea Legal Solutions Ltd.

Mr Milne said he would run the post office franchise along with two employees.

He bought the building last year and is finally hoping to welcome customers in May or June, depending on how quickly new systems can be installed.

“We wanted to open a year ago,” said Mr Milne. “We can’t move until they (the Government) say.”

A Post Office spokeswoman said:

“We are to trial a new style of post office in Sketty to restore service to the community since the resignation of the previous postmaster.

“This type of branch will offer bill payment, pick-up and drop-off and mails products.”

Sketty Cross has two small supermarkets, cafes, restaurants and barber shops among its commercial units, and used to have Lloyds and HSBC bank branches.

Leanne Lewis, of Davies of Mumbles bakery, Sketty Cross, said she was pleased the post office would reopen.

“It will bring the customer back,” she said.

“A lot of people around Sketty are the older generation, who relied on the post office.”

Deborah Palmer-Davis, the owner of Dilly’s Kitchen, said she was delighted.

“We used to use the post office all the time before it closed because there are no banks here now,” she said.

And Philippa Brown, the owner of the vintage shop Viva La Frida, said: “It will definitely help the area. The community was upset that it (the post office) had gone.”

The post office closed on January 31, 2020, following the previous postmaster’s resignation.

Sketty councillors Mike Day and Cheryl Philpott said they have been in constant communication with the Post Office since then.

Cllr Day said: “While we don’t have a date for the reopening yet, I am positive that this news comes as a real boost to the residents and businesses.”

Cllr Philpott said the Sketty Cross area would benefit, and added: “Clearly it is up to us all to ensure future services are protected by using the post office.”

Photo Credit: Ian Capper – geograph.org.uk / Wiki commons