THE owner of the empty One Stop Shop in High Street, Wellington, has issued an ultimatum – that if no-one takes up his offer of a year’s free rent for anyone opening up Post Office facilities on the site, he is going to redevelop it.

Michael Tucker (pictured) says a Post Office would breathe new life into the town, but fears the opportunity to have one in the town centre could be lost.

He said: “If no-one comes forward to locate the Post Office in this town centre site by the end of April, work will begin on splitting up the site into two or three smaller shops, which would be too small to house the Post Office.”

Wellington has been without a Post Office since the branch in the former One Stop shop closed in August 2019. Mr Tucker bought the site at auction last year for £149,000.

“I’d like the council to get involved,” he added. “I would be very sad if the chance for a central Post Office was lost to the people of Wellington.”

Andrew Govier, county councillor for Wellington and Rockwell Green, said: “We hoped that Mr Tucker’s generous offer might encourage someone to come forward.

The council has made it clear that they would also be able to provide some financial and administrative support but to date no one has come forward.

“We will continue to try to find someone as we know that a post office is vital to residents and businesses in the town.”

Members of the town council have talked about opening their own Post Office branch and getting someone to operate it on behalf of the authority.

The nearest Post Office is in Rockwell Green, but residents there have complained about the extra traffic it generates in the area.

The owners are also trying to sell it.