It’s the end of an era for retiring Deborah Penwarne who has worked at Milton Keynes Post Office for 41 of her 43 years of long and loyal career with Post Office.
Deborah, who is born and bred in the area, has chosen to take early retirement next week as Milton Keynes Post Office branch manager.
Since Deborah started working at the Milton Keynes branch it has been in five different locations including two unexpected, temporary, locations this year.
In June there was a serious fire at the branch in Midsummer Boulevard whilst open to the public. Customers, Deborah and her team had to flee the blaze. Thankfully no one was injured. Recently a man from London was charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
Deborah and her team are close-knit and supportive of each other. This helped them to cope with the ordeal as did re-opening a temporary branch at the Civic Centre in July, then recently it relocated to the shopping centre a few weeks ago.
Milton Keynes Branch Manager, Deborah Penwarne, said: “We were all really pleased when the temporary branch re-opened after just five weeks. The team was all glad to be back together. Staff found the normal routine of serving customers reassuring and they enjoyed seeing their regular customers again. People were very grateful that the busy branch in the city centre had re-opened.”
Major repairs have had to be carried out at the premises and the temporary location will close on Tuesday 25 November at 3pm. It will re-open at its normal location on Wednesday 26 November at 1pm. The branch will then be under new management and will no longer be directly managed by Post Office.
Deborah said: “What a year it has been! I will never forget 2025. In the spring we found out that Milton Keynes branch and all the UK’s remaining directly managed branches were to be franchised by the autumn. I knew then that I wanted to retire. Then there was the serious fire – no one expects that to happen. When the temporary branch re-opened, we were so pleased we got to work with each other again. We are going out for a lovely meal next week to mark the end of an era.
“It is going to be very strange this December as I’m normally really busy working in the run-up to Christmas. I’ve only once not worked in December - when I was on maternity leave. Now I won’t have to rush with my Christmas shopping or other festive preparations.”
Paul Mead, Post Office Head of Directly Managed Branches, said: “Staff have been amazing and very committed to serving their community. They’ve been through the ordeal of the fire, and they’ve still carried on loyally serving customers.
“Milton Keynes is a branch I managed from early in my career and I managed Deb for a number of years, so I have had the pleasure of working with Deb for many years. Deb has always led by example. She’s hard-working, cares about her customers and staff. I wish her a very well-earned retirement.”
Deborah has lived in the area since she was a baby and has seen the area completely transformed. Work started to build Milton Keynes not long after she was born. She would cycle to see the town being built. A brand-new town was needed to help relieve housing congestion in London. The name Milton Keynes was taken from that of an existing village. In 2022 Milton Keynes was given city status to mark the Queens Platinum Jubilee.
When the branch returns to its normal location on 26 November it will then be under new management. UOE Stores is taking over the running of this branch. Universal Office Equipment UK LTD already successfully runs Post Offices in the UK. Milton Keynes will be its 41st branch.
Current staff at Milton Keynes were given the opportunity to transfer to the new operator. Deborah, who turns 60 this December has decided to take early retirement and is really looking forward to her first grandchild being born next year.
Post Office Limited confirmed in April that it is moving to a fully franchised network, with our remaining 108 branches to be run by carefully selected retail partners. This is part of our wider commitment to deliver a “New Deal for Postmasters”. We are confident this would create a long-term, sustainable future for post offices in communities across the UK. Milton Keynes Post Office is the second to last branch in the UK to be franchised.