Nayland Post Office, near Sudbury, set to close following retirement of long-serving postmistress

A village post office will soon be no more following confirmation that the outlet will not be replaced when the long-serving figurehead retires next month.

Nayland Post Office, located on the High Street, is set to cease trading in early September after postmistress Patsie Ford announced her intention to step down.

In a letter to customers, the national Post Office Ltd – which oversees all local branches – revealed that it had decided not to keep the Nayland service going as part of a wider review into its network.

The next nearest branch is the Stoke-by-Nayland Post Office, which is situated in Park Street, approximately 1.8 miles away from Nayland.

Wendy Hamilton, network provision lead at the Post Office, said: “Following the resignation of the postmaster, the branch will be closing on Tuesday, September 3 at 2pm.

“The Post Office has undertaken a comprehensive review of the network to ensure that it continues to meet evolving customer needs in a very challenging economic climate.

“This review examined the network at a very detailed, local level, analysing customer demand and accessibility of Post Office products and services.

“Consequently, it has informed our plans for the network as we work to ensure that our funding and resources are allocated to deliver maximum benefit for all customers.

“At this time, therefore, we are not looking to replace Nayland Post Office. We apologise for the inconvenience the closure may cause.”

The long-term future of Nayland Post Office was first called into question during a public meeting back in the spring of 2016.

At that time, Mrs Ford – who has served as postmistress in Nayland for more than 20 years – had been expected to retire in 2019.

This led to the formation of the community-led Nayland Community Stores Ltd (NCSL), which spent more than two years developing plans to take over the running of the village branch.

As part of this bid, more than £50,000 in community pledges was raised through the Save Our Post Office campaign.

But the attempted takeover fell through in 2018 after NCSL deemed there was no longer a sustainable business model.

Subsequently, Mrs Ford and Post Office Ltd reached an agreement to maintain the Nayland service.

However, earlier this year the possibility of the branch’s closure was raised again after its opening times were reduced by one hour.