A pub in Helmsley is providing a temporary home to the market town’s Post Office following the disappearance of services last year.
The historic Black Swan – a pub and hotel – has installed post office services between 10am-1pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and from 9:30am to 12:30 on Thursdays. It comes as more than 1,300 people signed a petition calling for restoration of the facility following the closure of Helmsley’s post office in August and the end of a mobile service in November.
With the funding to provide the new temporary operation in place, members of the team at the Black Swan and operations manager Nicola Fortune worked quickly with both Post Office staff and local councillor George Jabbour to establish the service as soon as has been possible. The venue, owned by Tyneside’s The Inn Collection Group, will offer a mobile counter while efforts remain to re-established a permanent, full-time Post Office in the town.
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Mark Wright, general manager at Black Swan said: “We’re delighted that we have been able to provide a home for a service so vital to so many members of our community and look forward to its first day back next week. We know how important the Post Office is to businesses and individuals in and around Helmsley and while Black Swan is just a temporary host whilst a new permanent option is secured, we know what having the service back this will mean in the town.
“Inns have a long tradition of being at the very heart of the community and I am delighted that we are taking that beyond being a place from which to eat, drink, sleep and explore. The inn will be open as usual during the Post Office’s hours of operation so anyone coming to use its services are more than welcome to sample what we offer as an inn too.”
Coun Jabbour said: “Immediately after funds were secured for a temporary solution in Helmsley, members of the Post Office and the Black Swan Hotel teams worked tirelessly to make sure that this new service is available to our community as soon as possible. The Post Office counter has now been delivered to its new home at the Black Swan Hotel and is already set up to ensure that the first transactions will be processed smoothly on the opening day.
“I am keeping my fingers crossed for next Tuesday, but in the meantime, I would like to say a huge thank you on behalf of our community to everyone at The Inn Collection Group & The Black Swan and the Post Office for making this a reality.”
Ian Murphy, Post Office network provision lead for North of England said: “We are delighted to be restoring a Post Office to Helmsley as we know how important a Post Office is to a community and how sorely missed this branch has been.”
The 60-room Black Swan, on Helmsley’s market square, was acquired by the growing Inn Collection Group in 2020. The property has an Elizabethan building at one end and a Tudor building on the other, with a Georgian house in the middle.
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
