Post office on the move but leaves a forwarding address
Maidstone post office is used to directing people’s mail, but it will now have to redirect its own after its move to new premises.
Self-service machines were seen being moved out of the former Bank Street branch last Friday morning.
The store has now been incorporated into WHSmith on Week Street and opened on Thursday, August 18.
This action was decided after a six-week consultation earlier this year, with bosses choosing to close the Bank Street outlet and move to the new site just 250 metres away.
The move was announced in April. The consultation closed in early June and a month later the Post Office announced the decision had been made.
A Post Office spokesman said: “This is a more cost-effective and sustainable way of providing the same services.”
However, officials are now in discussions with Maidstone council to see if any safe drop- off and pick-up parking places can be provided near WHSmith for people with mobility issues.
The Post Office will also keep on display a war memorial at the Bank Street branch dedicated to people who worked for the organisation when it was known as the General Post Office or GPO.
No staff have been laid off as a result of the change, while the new base has five counters and three self-service kiosks.
Opening hours have not changed and will be from 9am until 5.30pm on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 9.30am-5.30pm on Tuesday.
It will also be open from 9am12.30pm on Saturdays.
As the Bank Street property was leased to the Post Office, the organisation was not able to comment on its future.
Maidstone has a history of post office moves. The Bank Street branch opened after the previous King Street post office closed down almost a decade ago.
That building, on the corner of Wyke Manor Road and King Street, was built in 1928 and has remained empty since the exchange moved out in early 2007.
There are also still post office branches in Kullar News in Maidstone High Street and in Kingsley Road.
Many other town centre post offices around the county have moved into WHSmith shops in recent years, including the Canterbury operation, which previously occupied the Parade space now filled by the Tex-Mex restaurant Chimichanga, and the Gravesend and Folkestone offices.