11 Dec 2025
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper looks likely to have ensured the long-term future of the city centre’s flagship Post Office.
The branch, which was one of the few surviving Crown Post Offices, reopened as an independent franchise in August, operated by retail partner Universal Office Equipment Ltd, which runs eight other PO branches, a banking hub and stationery stores across London, Herts and Surrey.
But things went far from smoothly, with automatic machines no longer operational. huge queues and limited services available.
Now it appears the situation is set to finally get better following pressure from Daisy, with improvements promised over the coming months.
She told the St Albans Times today: “This morning, I went to our post office on St Peter’s Street and met with the new sub postmaster and a representative from the Post Office itself.
“My big campaign had been to try and secure guarantees that we would keep all the same services and keep the Post Office in the same location.
“Now, thanks to everybody who signed my petition and all of the hard campaigning, it sounds as though within a matter of months we may be able to say that we have saved the St Peter’s Street Post Office.”
She explained: “Over the next two to three months, the sub postmaster and the Post Office are going to be in negotiations on a long-term lease. If they can come to an agreement and sign it within the next three to six months, then our hope is that it will remain the Post Office for potentially up to a decade.
“They’ve told me that is their plan to keep all the current services, to make it sevens day a week, and to introduce new modern self-service kiosks that actually work. I also sought guarantees that they would maintain a non-digital offer so that people can literally walk in and see a human being and ask for the support they need, which is really important for those who are digitally excluded.
“They’ve also talked about introducing a kind of digital queuing system as well, which would be great for the people who want to go in and have an appointment to ask for particular forms or service, but want to book it, maybe go into town, buy a coffee, have some lunch and come back a couple of hours later.
“It now sounds like those negotiations are happening and if they conclude positively in the next few months, then it is quite possible that we will have saved the Post Office. But I’m not going to take my foot off the pedal just yet.”
