Campaigners held a protest over plans to franchise a post office.

Protesters held placards as they stood outside Finsbury Park Post Office on December 21 because they fear moving Harringay Crown Office to a new premises under private ownership will lead to an “inferior level of service”.

Harringay Crown Office is set to be transferred from 509 Green Lanes to 37, Grand Parade, Green Lanes, and it is believed the new owner is Rizwan Salahuddin, who recently took over Finsbury Park Post Office.

The protesters are concerned the existing workforce will all be replaced by “inexperienced staff” and there is “No long-term guarantee the new owner will be able to provide post office services”.

A six-week consultation closed on December 28.

There is hope the new post office will open in March this year.

Customers were joined by representatives from the Communication Workers’ Union.

A spokesman for the union said: "We are outside Finsbury Park Post Office this evening to send a clear message that we do not want private ownership of Harringay Crown Post Office.

“In just 90 minutes, we received overwhelming support for our petition from the public here.

“It seems that the Post Office are simply franchising this branch to increase their profits by offering the people of Harringay a second-rate service in a completely unsuitable location at the back of a store.

“We urge the Post Office to listen to the views of residents and businesses and their democratically elected representatives. They should reconsider their position and retain Harringay as a Crown Post Office on its present site.”

The Post Office says the new site “will offer will the same wide range of services”.

A spokeswoman for the Post Office said: “The Post Office is not immune to the pressures facing all retailers. A key element of this is providing greater convenience.

“This means easily accessible locations, with longer opening hours. We would like to reassure customers that the same wide range of services will be available in the new location.

“We are not making these changes lightly – but we need to make them if we are to ensure that branches like Harringay remain at the heart of towns and cities, not just in the short term, but for the long term too.

“We also take the utmost care supporting our staff and we are talking with them about the changes and their potential options which can include transfer of their employment to the new operator in line with TUPE legislation.”