Wharf post office is best in London

Canary Wharf Post Office has reported a rise in sales of ISAs and growth bonds as savers look for ways to invest their money.

The Chancellor Passage franchise serves more than 7,000 customers a week, enabling it to become London's top-rated post office this year.

At the Post Office's award ceremony in central London on May 21, the Canary Wharf branch scooped Best Overall Post Office in the capital as well as four other target-based awards, for travel money sales, Parcelforce 24/48 sales, growth bond sales and credit card sales.

It last won the overall award in 2004, in the year that subpostmaster Subhash Patel took over the premises. He also runs post offices in Barking, Lakeside and Whitechapel.

He said: "It's a great achievement for our whole team. It was a big step for us to come here because it's a huge post office with 10 tills. We're mostly known for mailing letters, but we do more than stamps in today's world."

While many rural post offices have closed in recent years, Canary Wharf's demand was such that Mr Patel acquired another unit in Churchill Place in March 2006.

The 17 staff are split between the two sites, with 12 on hand in Chancellor Passage.

To keep afloat in the modern business world, the Post Office is increasingly pushing financial products and travel essentials such as currency.

Last year its Canary Wharf branch sold 189 ISAs, made 50,380 special deliveries, completed 2,304 Moneygram transfers abroad, sold 110 growth bonds and beat the £3,835,858 target for currency changes by nearly two million, reaching £5,360,946.

Manager Bharti Patel said: "It's always about the benefit to the customer here. If you do that, customers come back to you because they're getting a good service.

"In the last five or six years, the Post Office has changed dramatically.

"Before it was known as a customer service, where people would buy stamps.

"Nowadays when you come to my counter, I'll introduce at least one cross-selling product to you.

"It's moving towards the financial sector. About 4,000 post offices in rural areas have been shut, and we've got to provide this service or another 3,000 will close by 2012.

"They're designed to make money and save money and keep the customer happy, and we can guarantee the security of that money as it's backed by the Government.

"There are so many banks that have just gone bankrupt. But have you ever heard of a time when a post office has gone bankrupt?"