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Saved from closure
AGAINST all odds, defiant campaigners have helped save the Connaught Road Post Office in Harborough from being axed.
A leaked document seen by The Mail revealed Post Office bosses were to announce at 10am on Friday that the branch had been given a reprieve.
Never-say-die protesters from across Harborough have campaigned for months to convince them that the popular Connaught Road branch should be saved.
In mid-November, it was one of 57 across Leicestershire and Northants which the post office announced were facing the chop.
The 11-week consultation prompted residents to form SCORPiON (Save Connaught Road Post Office Now) which received cross-party support from district councillors and Harborough MP Edward Garnier.
Campaigners were able to:
l Get a 5,000-name petition fighting the closure.
l Convince scores of people to write and send emails to Post Office chiefs stating their objections.
l Carry out a 1,000-person survey which revealed Post Office users overwhelmingly backed the branch.
l Gather more than 100 supporters outside the branch on January 11 when Post Office external relations manager Sue Dakin visited town.
A source leaked the unexpected news yesterday (Wednesday) after the Post Office had given advance warning to some key people.
The Mail backed the campaign and highlighted the plight of users on its front page on December 20. We showed how pensioners, people with disabilities, nearby businesses and parents with young children saw the Connaught Road branch as a lifeline.
People said the next nearest Post Office in St Mary's Place was too far away and was already busy enough.
A previous campaign to save a Harborough branch from the axe in Nelson Street in 2004 failed.
Approached by the Mail, postmaster Vipul Pabari declined to comment until after the official announcement.
Harborough MP Edward Garnier said: "If the decision goes as I hope it does this will be great news for Harborough and of course for Mr Pabari and his family.
"I am keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow (Friday). To have closed this Post Office would be to have given a vote of no confidence in the economy of the town."
The Post Office refused to comment.
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Weather for Market Harborough
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 7 C to 12 C
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