THE future of a former post office at the heart of a local community is up in the air, after plans to open a restaurant at the site were withdrawn.

In recent years, Springfield Post Office in Rhiwderin, on the outskirts of Newport, has enjoyed a new lease of life, having been turned into a café and local shop – The Sorting Rooms.

But, while it was first heralded as a success story, some cracks started to show.

The café is said to have remained as popular as ever, though shop trade has slowed down considerably.

According to representatives from the business: “The romantic notion of having a local village shop that all the residents walk to and support by buying their conveniences from is unfortunately nothing more than an idealist fantasy in the modern world.”

Continuing, they said that every resident of Rhiwderin either drives, or has access to a vehicle, and the majority of people in the area instead travel to larger chain supermarkets for their shopping needs.

They stressed that while a “very small number of locals” supported the shop, it is “currently unviable as a business”.

What efforts were made to change the future of the site?

In 2020, café owners submitted an application to Newport City Council to change the use of the premises from Class A1 and C3 for ground floor retail and some upstairs living space, to class A3 for restaurant use.

The business – once a Post Office – was bought by the current owner in May 2019 when it was “on the brink” of closing down completely.

But changing the focus to a café was said to be “essential for sustaining the financial viability of the business,” according to plans lodged.

It isn’t clear quite why such a long time passed thereafter, but documents found on the council website show that the plans were met with local opposition – with many suggestions that the plan would bring with it parking problems in the village.

At this time, it is not known if this was a contributing factor, but on Tuesday, March 1, Newport City Council received notice that the application had been withdrawn from consideration.

What happens next?

Quite simply, the future of the site is now up in the air.

It is entirely possible that a revised, or even a completely different set of plans are put forward for the site.

But in the meantime, Rhiwderin has no post office, and, according to The Sorting Rooms business page, its status is “permanently closed”.