Tesco under fire for closing post offices in local stores

Tesco has come under fresh pressure to rethink its programme of closing local post offices as it rolls out its convenience store estate.

The supermarket giant is shutting one-fifth of the post offices it acquired as part of its £520m acquisition of T&S Stores two years ago. The latest counter threatened with closure is in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

Tesco plans to shut the post office, situated in a One Stop Shop, on 7 January to give it four weeks to convert the store into a Tesco Express. But local residents are fighting to keep it open. More than 4,000 people have written to Sir Terry Leahy,the chief executive of Tesco, imploring him not to shut it. The Liberal Democrats are backing the campaign, which they christened Every Little Hurts - a play on Tesco's "Every Little Helps" slogan.

Stephen Lloyd, the Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman for Eastbourne, said closing the counter was "an appalling act of corporate vandalism". He added: "The Tesco supermarket chain makes a lot of noise about commitment to communities but what they're doing here and elsewhere goes against their own pledges on corporate responsibility."

A spokeswoman for the supermarket group said: "Our aim is to deliver a better food store for the local community and retain a post office service, and in the majority of conversions to Tesco Express we have been able to do this."

She said the Eastbourne conversion had been delayed twice while Tesco attempted to find someone who would take over the counter. It even offered to foot the bill of transferring the counter - thought to be about £13,000 - but still could not find any takers.

Mr Lloyd is hopeful that Tesco can be persuaded to retain a post office in the new Tesco Express. Of the 810 T&S Stores Tesco acquired, 330 had post offices. It has committed to keeping only 260 open - leaving 70 local communities without anywhere to collect their pension or pay essential bills. It shuts post office counters in smaller stores when it lacks space to stock a full fresh food offering.

Mr Lloyd said the campaign had helped to save 13 post offices from closure. At least 17 other sites, in towns such as Middlewich, Cheshire and Hanworth in Middlesex, are slated for closure, he said, estimating that 100 would follow. "Tesco only transfers counters when a huge stink is kicked up about the closure. They don't do it off their own backs," he added.

Tesco said it offers help to anyone interested in taking on a post office franchise, including providing assistance with the application, providing financial support and not seeking any goodwill payment for transferring the post office as a going concern.