The iconic Trinity Street Post Office has announced plans to close down this December due to unsustainably high rental rates charged by Trinity College.

Despite an upturn in trade this year, the Post Office, leased by James McNaughton (also owner of Scudamores punting company), claims that the £20,000 per year rent set by Trinity is simply too high and is forcing them out of business.

Jack Zalewski, manager of the much-loved store, claims, “they want the money and we don’t have the money. It’s as simple as that.”

However, Rory Landman, Senior Bursar at Trinity, notes “with disappointment that the Trinity Street Post Office has decided to close, not least because we make extensive use of it ourselves. The decision was a surprise to the College as we had not been approached to discuss the terms of their lease renewal when it expires in December.”

The closure of the Post Office will be a blow to Cambridge students and residents alike. Alex Winterbotham, a student at Trinity, claims to be “utterly devastated” by the closure, stating that “Cambridge’s finest selection of postcards, merchandise and confectionary will be a thing of the past.”

The loss of the Trinity Street Post Office will be felt all the more keenly by Cambridge residents in the wake of the forced closure last year of nearly two dozen Post Offices in the Cambridge area, including three in the city centre. These closures are illustrative of the nationwide crisis facing local Post Offices, with over 625 already shut down this year, and plans for hundreds more to follow.

Since 1997 the number of Post Offices nationwide has fallen from nearly 19,000 to just 12,000, and by the end of the year this figure is expected to drop as low as 11,500.

The closures in Cambridge have already caused a dramatic increase in queuing time in the few Post Offices remaining open, which can only be expected to rise when the Trinity Street Post Office is forced to close on December 11th, with the store finally shutting its doors for good on Christmas Eve.