Ex-post office could be turned into supermarket

Plans have been submitted to turn the ground floor and basement of the 130-year-old building in Wolverhampton into a supermarket.

A grade II listed former post office in Wolverhampton city centre could now be converted into a supermarket.

Georgina Konadu, who purchased the building in 2022, has submitted plans to City of Wolverhampton Council for permission to turn the ground floor and basement of the 130-year-old Grant Post House in Lichfield Street into a food store.

She was originally given permission by the local authority to transform the old post office into a restaurant and function room in August 2024, but said new plans were to expand her neighbouring business, Sweet Elohim Afro Market.

Earlier this year, Ms Konadu was fined £11,000 after a rat infestation was found at her adjoining property in 2023.

The store was forced to close after Wolverhampton's environmental health officers found rat droppings throughout, including next to sinks in food preparation areas and among open fruit and vegetables, tins, jars and packets.

It was later allowed to reopen, once it was determined the immediate risk to health had been removed.

She pleaded guilty to two hygiene breaches at Dudley Magistrates Court in February this year.

The planning application for the restaurant said the outside of the building, which was Wolverhampton's head post office until the 1960s, would be tidied up and broken windows replaced.

The drawings submitted with the application showed a hall with 82 covers, as well as a restaurant and bar and sitting room.

The building's ground floor would be converted into a kitchen, lobby and toilets.

Following the post office closure, the property was refurbished as offices and teaching rooms and used by the University of Wolverhampton until 2007, but has remained 'mostly' empty since.

Wolverhampton Council had approved plans in 2014 to convert much of the building into a new student union for the University of Wolverhampton as well as provide a space for concerts, wedding receptions, conferences, fairs and exhibitions.

However, the work was never carried out.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.