Customers swamp at-risk post office

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Thursday 3rd Mar 2005.

A fresh appeal has been made to reprieve Bradford's busiest city centre post office.

Union officials claim business has doubled at the Exchange Post Office since 16 others in the district were shut recently.

The Communication Workers' Union says 2,600 people visited the office in Bank Street on Monday this week alone - about twice as many as before the closures.

Now the union is contacting Post Office Ltd and post watchdog Postwatch with the information.

It also wants staffing examined at the post office, which has about 11 employees.

Rosie Watson of the CWU said the smaller city centre post office at Darley Street could not have coped alone with the volume of customers if the Bank Street office was closed.

"The figures prove conclusively that the post office is necessary and even larger numbers of people are now using it," she said.

Bradford North MP Terry Rooney said he believed it was vital to keep a post office in the Bank Street area.

"Ideally I would like to see it in the former Rackhams building in Market Street," he said.

Last year thousands of people supported a Telegraph & Argus campaign to keep the Exchange Post Office.

Among supporters were Bradford Council and leading organisations including the City Centre Steering Group and Bradford Centre Regeneration, the joint venture company set up to breathe new life into the city centre.

Post Office Ltd said the Exchange was not making a profit and the other city centre post offices, in Darley Street and Sunbridge Road, could absorb the business.

But 400 people filled in coupons printed in the T&A opposing the closure and about 3,000 pensioners signed petitions.

Post Office Ltd decided at the end of last year to shut the other post offices but deferred a decision on the Exchange for six months.

It is now in talks with Bradford Centre Regeneration and Bradford Council about the possibility of staying in the area in another building.

John Burton, UK development director of Westfield, which has taken over the planned Broadway shopping scheme, has said he would welcome a post office in the centre.

A spokesman from Post Office Ltd said no decision had been reached on the Exchange but any information would be taken into consideration.

The chief executive of Bradford Centre Regeneration, Maud Marshall, said: "We and the Council are in on going talks with them to identify potential alternative premises.

"We are also making the case that business in the city is going to increase and migrate more towards Broadway."

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