More than just selling stamps: Croydon’s Post Office on the High Street
The Post Office is ploughing on with the closure of its Croydon High Street branch, conducting one of those legally-required but completely pointless consultations, where they ask the public for their views, and then carry on and do exactly what they always intended.
Croydon’s central Post Office could close within a matter of weeks, shifting its business into the less-than-welcoming Whitgift Centre, with a sort of flat-share arrangement with TG Jones (WH Smith as was).
The Croydon High Street Post Office, in as central a location as could be wished for, close to the tram rattling down George Street and on to Church Street, is a grand, purpose-built building dating from more than a century ago. Nothing in the Post Office’s consultation indicates what plans they might have for the building, nor how they intend to preserve this bit of Croydon’s built heritage.
The scandal-hit Post Office think bunking up with WH Smith in the Whitgift Centre is a better idea. It is, of course, just a cheaper option.
Croydon’s closure is one of 115 Crown Post Offices to close, with a loss of around 1,000 jobs, in a move described by union bosses as “immoral”.
It will be just the latest low blow to Croydon’s already blighted High Street.
Croydon’s main Post Office is almost always busy, often with long queues which the staff usually move along swiftly and efficiently. They provide services far more complex than simply the selling of postage stamps, as they handle pension payments, gas meter top-ups, out-of-hours banking payments, driving licence and passport applications and a range of other, quasi-governmental bits of form-filling essential for life in 21st Century Britain.
The Post Office is – or was – the largest retailer in the country, often providing an anchor for communities, offering mail and banking services to approximately 6million small businesses.
Blight new future: the Post Office offers a view into the co-habiting branch inside a TG Jones. It is likely to be smaller than the current Post Office
The Post Office says that the Croydon move could happen in October or November.
“We are proposing to move… to a new location: TGJones, Whitgift Centre, 34 North End, Croydon, CR0 1UB, where it would be run by our retail partner,” the consultation announcement states.
“Post Office Ltd recently announced it is moving to a fully franchised network, as part of our wider commitment to deliver a ‘New Deal for Postmasters’.” The sub-postmasters jailed and persecuted by the Post Office in the Horizon IT scandal must be loving the idea of a “new deal”…
“Over 99% of the Post Office network is already successfully operated on a franchise basis by carefully selected retail partners. We are confident this would create a long-term, sustainable future for post offices in communities across the UK, including Croydon.”
And they say, “We’re carrying out a local public consultation and we’d like your views on the proposal. We welcome feedback and comments that can help inform our plans.”
The Post Office’s often leading questions include “Getting to the proposed location” and “Getting to the proposed location”, as well as “Inside the proposed location”. The consequence of the move seems almost certain to provide less space for the long queues of customers than at present.
The online survey does encourage responses from council chief executives (has Katherine Kerswell ever sauntered across from Fisher’s Folly to buy a second-class stamp?), from councillors and even MPs. Perhaps the Minister of State for industry in Keir Starmer’s government, Sarah Jones, the MP for Croydon West, where the Post Office is located, might end her silence on the matter?
Has Croydon’s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, taken a break from grinning inanely for photo-ops for five minutes to actually do some work for his £84,000 annual salary and submitted a consultation response on behalf of the people of Croydon? If so, he really ought to make it public, and do something useful for a change.
Read more: Age UK calls for Mayor Khan to act against Post Office closures
Read more: Post Office closure deals new blow for Croydon High Street
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