Akaroa residents will soon see the return of postal services to the town’s historic post office building on Rue Lavaud.

It follows the sudden closure of the iSite business last month, which left the community without NZ Post retail services.

Starting Tuesday, 3 September, the Christchurch City Council Service Centre in the old post office building will offer over-the-counter postal services from Monday to Friday, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with post box services available six days a week.

Councillor for Banks Peninsula, Tyrone Fields, said “the local community was extremely concerned at the prospect of losing postal services altogether, and it’s a relief to have found a sustainable solution.

“We want it to be an attractive place for people to live, work, and raise their families, so having amenities like NZ Post is an important component of that,” he said.

The reopening of postal services in the heritage building was made possible through collaboration with NZ Post, thanks in large part to the efforts of Nigel Harrison and Asif Hussain, members of the Banks Peninsula Community Board.

“This is a win-win for the local community, for this beautiful heritage building, and for visiting tourists, who we know the town is increasingly dependent on. It’s also entirely fitting that postal services will once again return to the historic post office,” Fields said.

The post office building, originally constructed during World War I on the site of the first Akaroa Post Office built in 1856, has long been a landmark in the town. With the return of postal services, it will continue to play a central role in the life of the Akaroa community.