A local Brighton post office is set to close at the end of July because rising costs have made it impossible for the postmaster to carry on.
Although Islingword post office itself was doing well, the business relied on customers buying goods from the convenience store it was located in at the top of the hill in Hanover.
Postmaster Sean Sherman said a lack of government support for small businesses meant many others would be facing the same dilemma.
He said: “It’s just costs. They have just escalated. The business mortgage, energy costs, increases in the minimum wage, the costs of supplies. Everything’s just gone up.
“It was a thriving business but we can’t raise prices enough in the shop. The post office is booming but with a business like that we have to rely on the footfall in the shop.
“People are coming into the post office but they’re not buying things in the shop. And I don’t blame them, the prices are so high.
“We have scared about 20 per cent of our customers away. People are just not using us any more, they’re not buying things in the shop anymore. Use it or lose it.
“It’s very sad. I’ve been here for ten years now and it’s been loely. Customers have been fantastic, it’s been a lovely community.
“We love our customers so it’s all very hard.
“The building is being sold to a property company. It’s a prime location for property. Ideally we would have sold as going concern, but the timescales meant that just wasn’t possible. We have run out of time.
“There’s been no support for small businesses in Brighton, not from central or local government, or the post office.
“When you are struggling all they seem to want to do is add to your overheads. Energy costs, wage costs, mortgage rises – it’s all been a result of policies made by central government.”
A spokeswoman for the Post Office said: ““The postmaster for Islingword Post Office recently resigned and the branch is due to close on Saturday 27 July.
“The vacancy is advertised on www.runapostoffice.co.uk.
“We have had interest expressed from retailers and talks are at an early stage. We are keen to restore service as soon as possible.
“In the interim alternative branches will include Lewes Road, St Georges Road, St James Street and London Road.”
What a shame. This is such a vital local shop, it will be very much missed. Extremely sad for Sean and his staff too. As a local resident I remember how much they helped during covid, Thank you all and wishing you the best for your futures.
I doubt that was the main reason. The article says as much. The trend is that unfortunately a lot of small business are closing; the death of the high street is not a novel concept.
A great shame
It was one of the last shops to give up strict covid rules during covid. Masks and 2 in 2 out and all that rubish. So i stopped using after this.
Sad, but obviously not enough money is being made
You reap what you sow. The irony here is that this shop embraced Covid authoritarianism to the maximum. They had strict rules about queuing to get in, wearing masks, and the staff ruthlessly enforced them. This went on long after government guidelines had relaxed, and every other businesses had returned to normal. I went in this shop every day for years, but after they went full on Josef Stalin during the pandemic, I stopped going and am sure I’m not the only one. On the question of rising costs, why does the postmaster think this happened? The inflationary crisis didn’t just come out of thin air, it was a direct consequence of the half a trillion pounds that was borrowed and pissed away on the pointless Covid lockdowns – the very same lockdowns that this shop was a cheerleader for.
He isn’t wrong, lizz truss has damaged so many people with her budget that forced up interest rates and made people’s spare cash just evaporate by pushing up mortgage costs and rent costs.
For some insane reason we still have business rates lol on small business like this, which again is actually mental.
Zero help for small business, 20% VAT… It’s really questionable why anyone still does small retail.
This post office is genuinely one of the best and it’s a massive shame that Lewes road which is one of the worst is going to be the only one in the area. Good luck Shaun.
And as for the gimps who didn’t like that you looked after your staff wellbeing during COVID, get a grip.