Anger at move for Chippenham Post Office

2:00pm Thursday 22nd November 2012 in Latest News

Chippenham Civic Society Owen Pennell, who is worried by the Post office move to the One Stop Store Chippenham Civic Society Owen Pennell, who is worried by the Post office move to the One Stop Store

Plans to move Chippenham’s Post Office to a convenience store have been questioned by customers.

The Post Office, at 41 to 43 Market Place, is moving on Friday, December 7, as part of a major modernisation programme.

Residents though are concerned the move to nearby One Stop Shop, 110 metres from its current site, is unnecessary and the building will not be able to cope with the numbers of people using the Post Office.

Owen Pennell, secretary of the Chippenham Civic Society, said: “The post office has no reason to move.

“Since the late 1950s the current Post Office has served the residents of Chippenham very well in a purpose built building.

“I would like to know why it is not possible to fully refurbish the existing building as the cost of converting the One Stop Shop must be considerable compared to a refurbishment of the current building.”

A Post Office spokesman said the move would ensure the future of the Post Office in Chippenham.

He said: “We understand how important having a Post Office is to residents in Chippenham and we are confident that this new modern Post Office will meet the needs of the community and secure services for the future.”

The new Post Office said its new branch will have a mixture of five open plan and screened counters, ensuring there is enough space for Post Office and retail customers. A combined Post Office and retail till in the shop means that customers can purchase Post Office products during shop opening hours, 7am to 10pm Monday to Sunday.

The Post Office has not said if any jobs are at risk as a result of the move. The branch will close on December 6 and the new branch opens on December 7.

Comments(11)

yoR says...
4:24pm Thu 22 Nov 12

Madness

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monkton_dad says...
5:55pm Thu 22 Nov 12

"Welcome to the house of fun!"

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Doc Peters says...
8:55pm Thu 22 Nov 12

A post office isn't "important", it is vital. In Calne, the post office is within Martin's paper shop, but this is a much smaller town. I predict a social disaster of epic proportions.

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frosch says...
10:51am Fri 23 Nov 12

I live in Germany in a sinilar sized town to Chippenham, our Post office was also privatised, but the mayor and town council acted so that the post office remained where it was, there is now a stationers and florist also in the building but much better than squeezing it into a supermarket

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chips-in-ham says...
1:07pm Fri 23 Nov 12

The queues and drunks which already occupy said shop makes this a utterly stupid idea. Glad I rarely use the post office bu feel sorry for those that do. Also where re employees going to park?

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honeypot123 says...
3:27pm Fri 23 Nov 12

This is a ridiculous idea/plan and will cause more problems then i expect they are anticipating.
The timing of the move is also horrendous, surely this is the Post Offices' busiest time of the year and they now want residents of Chippenham to squeeze in to the One Stop Shop.
I actually live in Calne and the Post Office being in the newsagents doesnt usually cause issues. Calne is significantly smaller than Chippenham and if Calne were to gorm to the size of Chippenham the Post Office would very quickly become inadequate.

Very poor decision.

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Paul Tucker says...
7:19pm Fri 23 Nov 12

Completely mad idea. Why can't they open a One-Stop section in the Post Office?

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What is this world coming too? says...
9:26pm Fri 23 Nov 12

One stop bought this franchise.So we have no choice in the matter.It was decided a long time ago. I personally will be going elsewhere now.
It wouldn't be so bad if it was a better shop but it's rubbish.Just think of the shoplifting that's going to happen whilst standing in the queue that's going to fill up the shop.

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we-all-have-opinions says...
6:19am Sat 24 Nov 12

People are too fast at judging the new Post Office and already threatening to "Shop elsewhere" but lets look at it from a different angle at least its remaining open and not closing. The town needs to inject new life and promote growth within businesses, so for that to happen we all need to get behnd the town and local trades. I wish the new Post Office all the luck and that the staff all keep their jobs.

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RobinsTalk says...
4:03pm Sun 25 Nov 12

People need to get a grip.

Some people are clearing up after having their homes flooded, others don't even have homes at all and all some have to worry about is where the post office is!

Chippenham, although much larger than Calne, does have two other post offices.

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spouseless says...
9:32pm Mon 26 Nov 12

The reason the post office cannot be refurbished where it is at present is because the post office no longer owns the building and hasnt done so for over 7 years. The public had nearly a month to write, phone or email to try and stop the move, not many took the opportunity to do this. Its a shame but at least the present staff have still got jobs, in this present climate

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