First time this has happened in London since 1857
The entire postal district of W14 is without a post office after the Costcutter in Hammersmith Road closed.
Two counters in the Costcutter had replaced the Blythe Road post office which closed two years ago.
However, competition from a newly opened Tesco Metro drove it out of business.
It comes ahead of the planned cull of another 169 branches across London designed to stem the Post Office's £150million-a-year losses.
Although the Post Office says it is "hopeful" of reopening the branch, campaigners say it marks the start of brutal cuts that will devastate dozens of communities.
The Olympia post office in Hammersmith Road serves the W14 population of 35,000, roughly the same as towns such as Boston in Lincolnshire, which has 22 post offices, Canterbury (21) and Bridgwater, Somerset (18).
Residents were promised the Costcutter would provide a full service when the last standalone post office in Blythe Road closed two years ago in the face of protests.
But after a Tesco Express opened next door last autumn it struggled to compete and went out of business last month. A notice on the door says: "The post office is now closed" .
A Post Office spokeswoman said: "As we have made clear in our proposals, we are committed to providing a post office in this area. We apologise to customers for the temporary closure of Hammersmith Road post office for reasons beyond our control and will resume service as soon as possible."
Labour MP Andrew Slaughter, who is standing for the new Hammersmith constituency at the next election, said: "Even if they are saying this is still a functioning office, it could be years before it is open again."
Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative councillor Paul Bristow said: "If there was one piece of evidence that post office branch closure programme in Hammersmith & Fulham had gone too far that was defining, it is the revelation that the entire postal district of W14 is without a post office."
This is the first time an entire London postcode has been left without a single post office since the capital was split into districts in 1857.
Emma Midgley
March 7, 2008
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