THE search is on for a replacement sub Post Office in Chadwell St Mary after it was announced that one of the community's two offices is to close.

National retail chain Morrisons is planning to close 100 stores over the coming months, after it blamed government policy choices for rising costs.

The supermarket chain said the affected convenience stores had been loss-making for some time and were acquired through its McColls acquisition in 2022. One of them is the store on Defoe Parade in Chadwell St Mary, which also offers Post Office services.

Morrisons said the difficulties had been exacerbated in more recent years by "significant cost increases resulting from government policy choices", including increases to the national living wage and National Insurance.

A Post Office spokesperson said: "We have been informed by Morrisons that following a review they are proposing to take the difficult decision to close the Morrisons Daily store where Defoe Parade Post Office is located.

"We fully recognise the inconvenience this will cause our customers who rely on our banking and parcel services in particular.

"Should the decision be confirmed that the store is closing, the store and Post Office would close in the next few months. We will therefore be advertising the vacancy for the branch on our runapostoffice.co.uk website shortly and welcome applications from nearby retailers looking to host a Post Office inside their store."

Meanwhile Chadwell's other sub-Post Office, within the Londis on River View, will continue to operate.

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