Estate Post Office to close after 8 Years Service
Monday, 13th January 2003.
HAVERHILL'S Parkway Estate looks set to lose its post office next month, when a new shop opens to replace the current one.
Two new shops have been built to replace the existing shop and Chinese restaurant at Blair Parade and in the next phase of the scheme, the old shops will be demolished and replaced by new homes.
The existing shop and post office will close on February 7 and the new shop will open the next day without a post office.
A review is being carried out by the Post Office to decide if the closure will be permanent. Sisters Linda Greenaway and Lorraine Clark, who have run the shop for the past eight years, believe it is unlikely that the post office will reopen.
They say when benefits and pensions are paid directly into bank accounts from April, the majority of their post office trade will disappear, meaning it won't be commercially viable to continue.
"We have been fighting against benefits being paid into the bank for the past three years, but it is going to happen, there is nothing we can do about that now," said postmistress Linda.
"If there were a lot of elderly and disabled people who could not get to another post office we would fight it, but most of the people are able bodied and can go elsewhere. It is sad, but we have to think about what is best for our business."
Lorraine said a new Payzone machine would be installed in the shop so that people could pay bills there. "We do feel for people, but we have worked hard setting up the business and we don't want to lose it.
"I use the post office myself, but there just will not be the trade to keep it going," Lorraine said.
George Hooper, the Post Office's head of area, said given the Post Office's unsustainable losses – £163 million in the last year alone – it had to look critically at the options for all urban offices.
"While we still have the option to relocate the Parkway branch, we feel that the area is already adequately served by neighbouring post offices without having to seek alternative premises," he said.
Two new shops have been built to replace the existing shop and Chinese restaurant at Blair Parade and in the next phase of the scheme, the old shops will be demolished and replaced by new homes.
The existing shop and post office will close on February 7 and the new shop will open the next day without a post office.
A review is being carried out by the Post Office to decide if the closure will be permanent. Sisters Linda Greenaway and Lorraine Clark, who have run the shop for the past eight years, believe it is unlikely that the post office will reopen.
They say when benefits and pensions are paid directly into bank accounts from April, the majority of their post office trade will disappear, meaning it won't be commercially viable to continue.
"We have been fighting against benefits being paid into the bank for the past three years, but it is going to happen, there is nothing we can do about that now," said postmistress Linda.
"If there were a lot of elderly and disabled people who could not get to another post office we would fight it, but most of the people are able bodied and can go elsewhere. It is sad, but we have to think about what is best for our business."
Lorraine said a new Payzone machine would be installed in the shop so that people could pay bills there. "We do feel for people, but we have worked hard setting up the business and we don't want to lose it.
"I use the post office myself, but there just will not be the trade to keep it going," Lorraine said.
George Hooper, the Post Office's head of area, said given the Post Office's unsustainable losses – £163 million in the last year alone – it had to look critically at the options for all urban offices.
"While we still have the option to relocate the Parkway branch, we feel that the area is already adequately served by neighbouring post offices without having to seek alternative premises," he said.
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