Wiped out ...in the name of the Crown
This main post office branch survived Hitler’s bombs in the seat where Winston Churchill was MP. Now, in a purge disguised by Orwellian weasel words, it is one of dozens set to be –
THE Post Office network has almost halved since the Millennium to just 11,600 branches, yet hard-hit communities are now facing a fresh cull. More than 40 per cent of the large Crown offices – branches run directly by the Post Office – will soon die a death.
Early this year, the Post Office admitted 37 Crown branches are to be closed or sold off and put inside shops. This is on top of a further 93 it revealed last year would close or be franchised inside stores. So far only 40 of these earlier earmarked branches have found a home – in a WHSmith store. The future of the rest remains unclear.
This latest wave of closures has been well hidden under the double-speak of ‘network transformation engagement’ – a term you might expect from the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s novel 1984 rather than from the friendly Post Office.
But those who run the network have a long history of using weasel words to hoodwink customers. Terms such as ‘network reinvention’, ‘transformation’, ‘investment’ and ‘change’ have all been used to mask the closure of almost 7,000 subpost offices since 2000. The mood on the high street confirms that many long-suffering customers are not impressed.
HURTING LOCAL BUSINESSES
WARTIME leader Winston Churchill was the MP for the East London suburb of South Woodford for 40 years. Under his command, the British bulldog spirit remained unbowed during the Blitz strikes of the Second World War, when bombing raids destroyed shops and houses a few doors down from the local Crown post office. But Post Office bosses are now doing what the Nazis failed to achieve, which is get rid of the Crown branch. Knowing the area well – having spent ten years living around the corner from this always busy branch – I am all too aware of the damage it will do.
There is no local WHSmith shop that can accommodate a post office branch. The next nearest Crown branch is in Walthamstow, which can take half an hour to get to on congested roads. But this branch is also earmarked for closure.
Locals are fearful of what it means for South Woodford high street. Estate agent Abby Miller is upset the branch is being axed. It is right next door to her office.
She says: ‘Post Office bosses say it has to move with the times, but they fail to recognise the growing need for its services by people like me who do a lot of internet shopping and use the branch for posting and picking up parcels.’
Abby adds: ‘It is a disaster for the community. I cannot believe the branch does not make money as it is always busy with queues snaking out the door. This area has always had a post office and to lose the friendly face-to-face service will be devastating.’
Local Anita Brookes is also unhappy that the Post Office is pulling out. The retired driver says: ‘It is being bloody-minded in closing such a well-used branch and it makes no economic sense. It is a decision made by bean counters that have no idea about what is actually going on.
‘The local Co-op bank closed recently and I relied on the post office for my banking. What is the point of the post office boasting how it offers such wonderful services if it then closes down the most popular large branches? It is really upsetting.’
Not everyone believes the Crown branch’s demise is a bad thing.
Secondary school teacher Suzie Rees says: ‘People are being too nostalgic. There are far too many struggling shops on the high street. It makes sense to put post offices inside retailers. The Post Office is not a charity.’
TAKING THE HEART OUT OF A COMMUNITY
THE bustling market town of Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire has been my home for the past six years.
It has a sense of community that is great for bringing up a young family. At the town’s heart is a Crown post office. But not for much longer.
Despite thousands of pounds recently spent on a major revamp, including the introduction of a ‘digital application service’ till with a high-tech Big Brother-style camera and scanner for driving licence applications, staff were told last month it is being closed. Instead, a branch is likely to be installed in the local WHSmith store.
Local physiotherapist Marta Smorowinska is unimpressed. She regularly visits the branch to post parcels.
She says: ‘This branch is so conveniently situated. I love coming here at quiet times of the day to get served quickly. If they end up shoving the branch into the back of a shop, I am not sure I am going to use it.’
Marta is not alone in voicing her dismay that the branch is shutting. Barber Jolene Dipple believes the knock-on effect of shutting the branch will be to reduce the number of people who pass by her salon, Bow Jangles, just a few doors down. She says: ‘We get a lot of customers who pop in after a trip to the post office. They will go elsewhere if forced to use another post office.’
She adds: ‘There is something special about having a standalone post office at the heart of Bishop’s Stortford. Rip it out and everyone suffers, from locals through to businesses and the quality of post office services offered.’
Not everyone is against the closure. Retired banker John Emmett says: ‘It might not make me popular, but I think putting the post office inside a shop makes business sense. Post offices should not be run as social services.’
ABANDONING VULNERABLE PEOPLE
CHELMSFORD in Essex is a brand new city. It was promoted to this heady status just five years ago as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. It has also enjoyed a multi-million pound revamp of its shopping centre. But the city does not justify a Crown post office. Instead, a branch is run out of the back of the local WHSmith store.
The store’s frontage is impressive. A two-storey glass-fronted edifice is sharp and modern. There is a large WHSmith sign flanked either side by bold post offices logos. Yet step inside and you struggle to find the branch. It has been tucked away upstairs behind a coffee shop and maze of bookshelves.
Once there, customers face an anaemic open area where the focus seems more on getting customers to serve themselves rather than be dealt with by a real person.
There are three self-serve machines – two of which are not working when I visit – and a dozen people queuing patiently to be served by the one till out of three that is open. Another member of staff sits rather forlornly at a separate ‘travel money’ kiosk.
Anna Morrow, from nearby Little Waltham, is a ‘puppy parent’. She
is currently training 20-month-old labrador Quiz to become an assistant dog for people with disabilities.
The retired nurse is a volunteer for charity Canine Partners. Among those who benefit from the trained dogs are former soldiers who have been injured in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq and now need assistance.
Anna says: ‘One of my duties is to understand how difficult day-to-day shopping can be for disabled people. For example, if you have a guide dog the animals are not supposed to be taken on escalators.
‘But the lift to the post office has broken down today – it is not the first time it has happened. This means many people with mobility problems cannot use the branch.’
Helen Wooldridge, from Great Baddow, is annoyed the post office was allowed to be installed on the second floor.
The mother-of-four suffers from epilepsy and was being assisted by carer Cassandra Upchurch. She was using the post office to renew her passport so she can visit a son in Spain. Helen says: ‘How on earth was permission granted for a post office to be stuck at the back of a shop up a long flight of stairs? Lots of young mums with pushchairs and elderly people who have mobility problems rely on this post office. But it is unwelcoming and not user friendly at all.’
THE POST OFFICE VISION
THE Government has ploughed £2billion of taxpayers’ money into the post office network in recent years.
The money was handed over on the understanding that the Post Office kept open 11,500 outlets so that 99 per cent of the population lived within three miles of a branch.
But the latest wave of closures leaves the network perilously close to breaking this solemn pledge.
Post Office boss Paula Vennells remains defiantly bullish, boasting that 2,000 new branches could be opened. Melanie Corfield, a spokeswoman for the Post Office, says: ‘We are certainly not looking to close any more branches down. For example, we are confident the 37 Crown post offices that are currently being looked at can be relocated – as others have been – in a process taking 18 months.’
She adds: ‘Without such forward planning more branches are in danger. We need to adapt for the challenges of the 21st Century.’
The Post Office says that in order to attract more customers it will focus more on banking, offering basic cash withdrawal and deposit services for 99 per cent of high street bank customers.
It already offers own-brand current accounts, savings accounts, personal loans, credit cards and mortgages provided by the Bank of Ireland UK.
In addition it sells travel insurance, home insurance, foreign currency and phone line rentals.
The Communication Workers Union is unimpressed by the wave of Crown post office closures.
A spokesman says: ‘This is two fingers up to the community. Post Offices are being run into the ground. Offloading responsibility by ramming Crown post offices into the back of a shop is not a well thought out survival strategy. It is a shambles.’
He adds: ‘This is a slash-and-burn paper exercise with the end aim of selling off what remains of the Post Office, just like was done with the Royal Mail just over three years ago.’
Vennells hopes further cost-cutting to the 357-year-old Post Office could see it make a profit of £100 million a year within a decade. For the 12 months to the end of March 2016 it lost £24million.