MYSTERY and confusion surround the Burnt Hill Stores post office at 69 Shortheath Road this week after The Herald received conflicting reports regarding its apparent recent closure under undisclosed circumstances. In a brief telephone conversation, the personwho answered the phone at Burnt Hill Stores refused to talk about the situation and claimed that the post office was not closed, despite Post Office Ltd claiming that it had been shut since late last year. Post Office Ltd said that it had been "forced" to close the post office but would not disclose the nature of the closure other than it was not planned and that they "did not want it happen". A Post Office spokeswoman, Martine Munbry, said that the closure was due to an internal matter that could not be made public. "This was something that was forced upon us and not part of any planned closure programme. We do want a post office in this area serving customers." She added: "We are doing all we can to restore services to customers in that area of Farnham as soon as possible." However, she could not be pinned down to a timescale nor give details of how this would be achieved. There was no public consultation period as is customary before shutting a post office because it was a "sudden individual unplanned incident" but the spokeswoman refused to divulge the exact reasons for the closure. Local residents have complained about the closure, especially as Burnt Hill Stores continues to display the" Post Office" signs. "It is quite intolerable that the post office continues to prominently display the signs erroneously," said Wrecclesham resident Mr CR Stephenson in a letter to The Herald. "The signs are obviously being retained for their commercial value in attracting customers. When I asked why the post office concession was not available any more, they said because they "did not wish for it". Burnt Hill Stores is the third local post office to close in recent months. The Ridgeway Post Office was controversially shut after Tesco's took over the convenience store from One Stop last November as well the post office at Sandrock Hill. At the time, the Shortheath Road shop was cited as the post office that should be used as an alternative when the other two closed but now residents in the area have been left with no convenient local post office services.
