Edinburgh residents are fighting to save a local post office that councillors say the Morrisons Group are planning on closing after acquiring the unit.
Euan Hyslop, an SNP councillor for the Drum Brae/Gyle ward, has said that a legal entity/arm for Morrisons, Property Holdings Limited, had acquired the RS McColls store at the Neuk on St John’s Road in the capital as part of a larger purchase.
He added that they are planning on closing the store and that chats with workers at the business - who are believed to have been kept relatively in the dark - have said that profitability concerns are behind the move.
READ MORE: Iconic Edinburgh Hogmanay torchlight procession scrapped by organisers
Councillor Hyslop has said that the store is always relatively busy and that many local residents rely on the Post Office within the business.
He adds that it would be a massive loss for the Corstorphine community and has vowed to do everything he can to try to save the store from closing.
He wrote an open letter to the CEO of Morrisons, David Potts, in an attempt to save the space.
It said: “I am writing to you, the CEO of Morrisons LTD, to encourage you to reconsider your decision to close the Post Office at the Neuk on St John's Road, Corstorphine, Edinburgh which your firm acquired with the takeover of RS McColls.
“I am a Ward Councillor in Edinburgh, elected to represent many of the hundreds of people that will be sorely affected by the closure of this Post Office.
“I note that you cite 'local integration and serving the community' as one of your core strategies as a business.
“However, the decision to close this shop, which has provided an essential service to our community for many years, is not representative of that promise.
“I regularly use the Post Office and grocery. Like many residents from the communities around and including Corstorphine I am shocked that it is running at a loss - because (as one local resident put it to me) there's always a queue.
“The removal of the vital service from this part of our community will also likely reduce footfall on the local High Street and force many to make longer, unnecessary car journeys to access a similar service further afield.
“Please reconsider the decision to close this shop and Post Office.
“Yours, Councillor Euan Hyslop”
Morrisons were contacted for comment on the proposed closure of the store.
READ NEXT:
First look at Edinburgh Ocean Terminal flats and £250m 'new town centre'
Fashion retailer Joules goes into administration threatening Edinburgh jobs
Lewis Capaldi stops for pictures with fans at curry house before concert
Midlothian killer Luke Mitchell to make audacious freedom bid with 'new evidence'
Family who refused to move have spent 40 years living in middle of roundabout
