Four Marks post office is set to close at the end of this month, following the resignation of the current sub-postmistress. Manager of Oak Green stores, Tracey Beveridge, was planning to sell the store and in preparation, handed in her resignation to the Post Office. However, the sale fell though for the shop, and the post office has been left with no postmaster to take the reins. Mrs Beveridge said: "The sale that has consumed all our hopes, energies and organisation for the last six months has finally come to nothing as the prospective buyers have pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour." The Post Office at the Oak Green shop was set up by Mrs Beveridge at her own expense two and a half years ago. She told The Herald: "We decided to take over the post office when Tesco moved to the village and closed the One Stop Shop and the post office within it. We paid for all of the expensive signs, scales, and staff training. It was a huge under taking. "At the time we were concerned that the parade of shops as a whole would suffer without a post office, but it has never brought in the trade we were assured that it would." In a statement, Mrs Beveridge said: "At our own personal expense we have provided a post office and an unsurpassed Post Office counter service to this village for almost three years now. "I can also tell you that the stresses and strains have been almost unendurable for me and without the tireless support of my devoted husband Breedon, my dear colleague Janet and the unrelenting loyalty, encouragement and genuine concern from customers, I would never have made it this far – my sincere thanks to you all." Mrs Beveridge, right, now plans to have the Post Office removed from the shop, and will have to pay for contractors to take away the equipment. She said: "I've still got a huge payment to make for the initial equipment, so I need to remove the post office in order to get more stock into the shop to make more money. "It is a shame that it has ended like this, but luckily our customers understand and have been very supportive." A spokesperson for the Post Office said: "We understand that the people of Four Marks will be concerned about the future of Post Office services in their area. We are committed to maintaining a provision for Four Marks, but our efforts so far have failed to find a replacement sub postmaster. I would urge any potential partners interested in running the Post Office branch to come forward as soon as possible." Anyone interested should contact Agency Recruitment at 0845 601 6260.
