It’s a bitterly cold Monday afternoon and a steady stream of customers filter in and out of the Post Office in Leigh. Some walk in with parcels, others are here to pay their bills. Some are simply here to chat to staff for advice.
The 19th century building sits on Silk Street. It overlooks the town’s Cenotaph and is less than a minute’s walk away from the town centre.
This is an important hub for the community. But it’s at risk of closure.
The branch is one of eight in Greater Manchester whose fate hangs in the balance.
Bosses recently announced that they are looking to offload 115 directly-owned Crown Post Offices in the 11,500 branch network as part of a big shake up. The chosen will either be transferred to retail partners or postmasters, or closed for good.
Around 1,000 workers are at risk under the proposed closures.
For 73-year-old David Smith, the closure of the Leigh branch would be a ‘crime’. “I use this Post Office at least three times a week,” he told the M.E.N.
“I have an eBay account and I sell watches and send them all around the world. I have sold some big names but mainly Casios. I’m on first name terms with the majority of the staff in there. It’s a busy Post Office and surely it must be making money.
“It’d be an absolute crime for it to be shut down. Not only are they putting people out of work but where do we go to post our letters?”
The seven other Greater Manchester branches at risk of closure are in Barnes Green, Harpurhey, north Manchester; Didsbury village, Manchester; Eccles, Salford; Hyde, Tameside; Prestwich, Bury; Salford precinct and; Stockport town centre.
Leonard Jones, 81, is angry about the potential closure of the Stockport branch. He lives in the town and says it’s the closest one to him after his local in High Lane was closed. A former member of the Merchant Navy, Leonard was in Leigh to visit his daughter when he spoke to the M.E.N.
Wanting to kill two birds with one stone, he decided to visit the local Post Office to enquire about renewing his passport. When the M.E.N. caught up with him, he had already been on a ‘wild goose chase’ looking for the right building.
“I live in a little village, High Lane, and they’ve just shut that one”, he said.
“It had been open for about 100 years and they shut it down, they’re shutting them all down. Where I’m from the nearest Post Office is about two or three miles away in Stockport town centre. And now they might be shutting that one down too.
“Honestly, the place is going to bl**dy pieces isn’t it. This used to be the most efficient place in the bl**dy world and now it’s a s****ole.”
Shan Guest, 62, is holding a giant cardboard box from the shop under her arm as she’s stopped by the M.E.N.
She uses the Post Office infrequently but she has sympathy for people who greatly rely on its services. She said: “I only use it once or twice or month, but I might use it now because of Christmas.
“I use it for the same sort of things. If it was to go, life would go on as usual for me, but for an awful lot of people I know it wouldn’t.
“I have to drive here, I don’t have a Post Office close enough to just walk to it, but there are a lot of people who live in the houses around here that would notice a huge difference.
“When I saw that it was one of the Post Offices highlighted, I was sad. The one in Tyldesley was lost a few years ago and I used that but I would genuinely choose this one, it’s just better.”
Kathleen Smith is also unimpressed with the announcement. The 57-year-old said. “It’s the main Post Office in the town, it’s been here years. People would be really stuck if it wasn’t here because a lot of the smaller Post Offices are going as well.
“I’ve always used this one, I don’t use many of the agency ones. I wouldn’t want to think that I’d have to get into a car to try and find a Post Office, where are they?”
Keith Hayes, 63 is shocked by the news. He wonders why a Post Office as busy as this would even be in trouble in the first place. “I didn’t know this was on a list”, he exclaimed.
“I thought this was too big and important to be on a list. One in the middle of nowhere you’d understand.
“I know there are other Post Offices in shops but this one is just better. I prefer coming here, they’re more knowledgeable, they’re professionals, they know what they’re talking about.
“Some places treat the Post Office side of things like an afterthought, this is better.”
Local MP Jo Platt has set up a petition to save the post on Silk Street describing it as an ‘essential service’. So far it has just under 600 signatures.
Taking to Facebook, Platt wrote: “Post Offices provide essential services to our community. The announcement that Leigh Post Office on Silk Street is at risk of closure is extremely concerning for the people in Leigh, and for residents and local business alike.
“This Post Office plays a vital role in our community and its loss would be a real blow to our local economy and to the countless residents who rely upon its services.
“We call upon the Post Office to save Leigh Post Office”.
Jo Platt’s office has been approached for comment.
What the Post Office has to say
Announcing the planned overhaul of the Post Office network, a spokesman said: “We are considering a range of options to reduce our central costs. This includes considering the future of our remaining Directly Managed Branches (DMBs), which are loss-making.
“We have had long held a publicly-stated ambition to move to a fully franchised network and we are in dialogue with the unions about future options for the DMBs.”
Post Office chairman Nigel Railton said the shake-up will also offer a “new deal for postmasters” by increasing their share of revenue and giving them a greater say in the running of the business as it looks to move on from the Horizon IT scandal that saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongfully convicted.
He said: “The Post Office has a 360-year history of public service and today we want to secure that service for the future by learning from past mistakes and moving forward for the benefit of all postmasters.
“We can, and will, restore pride in working for a business with a legacy of service, rather than one of scandal.”
He added the overhaul also “begins a new phase of partnership during which we will strengthen the postmaster voice in the day-to-day running and operations of the business, so they are represented from the frontline to the boardroom.”
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