POST office workers raised a glass of sherry with customers as they closed the Oxford shop for the last time in 1985.

Postmistress Nessa Wooloff gave regular customers a sherry as she closed the shutters of Park End Street post office for the last time in April that year.

Mrs Wooloff said: “I am very, very sad to see the post office close.

“We have always prided ourselves in the past on the personal service we give and we thought it would be a nice idea to give a glass of sherry to our regular customers who have been with us for many years.”

The postmistress continued to serve as a member of staff in the general store attached to the former post office.

But she was worried about how her elderly customers would be able to send and receive their post without a nearby office, with the next nearest offices being on Botley Road and in central Oxford.

She said: “It seems a like a long way to go, but many of my pensioners are really very active and go into town often.”

The closure followed hot on the heels of three other Oxford postal branches closed in the same year: George Street, Kingston Road, and Highfield, Headington.

At the time, there was criticism of the closures, including from Oxford City Council, which publicly voiced its concerns to the Post Office.