What about our post office?

Richard Wyatt

I am currently in London but was saddened to receive the following email from Dr Michael Pritchard.

”TG Jones, which was previously WH Smith, in Union Street, has signage up today announcing its closure.

A shame but not unexpected. The concern though is what happens to the only post office in Bath city centre when TG Jones does close.

It’s always busy. Located on the upper floor, it was part of WH Smith, when it took over a lot of post offices, and before that in Northgate Street.”

Will another retail outlet offer post offices space?n

Published by Richard Wyatt

Freelance Journalist, broadcaster, columnist and local historian. Director of Bath Newseum. Married and lives in Bath. Interested in local history, architecture and visual display in museums and urban spaces.

12 Comments

  1. It is sad to lose another post office.
    Sadly that one was out of my reach…I have impaired mobility.
    Widcombe would be so enhanced by a Post Office.
    Whom should one lobby.?

  2. Perhaps the plans for the old former GPO in New Bond Street need to be re-visited? Instead of giving it all over to the new Bath Museum of Costume, how about reinstating the Post Office on the ground floor, with the upper floors for the museum? What is Bath City Council’s position on the potential lack of a post office facility n the city?

  3. Recently I had to go to the Post Office to get an ID Check done to renew my driving licence. Can’t do this in local sub-POs.

    My partner will need to renew hers soon – what will happen then? What a mad situation if we have to drive to (say) Chippenham or somewhere in Bristol simply because the City of Bath no longer has a ‘proper’ Post Office.

  5. There was a well used Post Office in Moorland Road until Morrisons closed their shop and with it the Post Office. The shop is now refurbished and will probably open soon. There is a sign in the window that ask those who want a Post Office there to email nd.enquiries@post office.co.uk asking for a post office to be opened in 46-48 Moorland Road, Bath BA2 3PN. This is a very useful location, because although being in a RPZ the whole road is almost entirely Visitors Parking with a 1 hour limit (so free to use) and there is a Disabled Parking space right outside the shop. It has bus routes 1, 8, and 12 nearby too.

  6. This is disgraceful, a city like Bath needs a post office in the city ,very important. We have two Universities that have a lot of overseas students. This Branch is well supported. On visiting this week’s, there was 20 customers in the queue waiting to be served.

  7. Bath has several buildings which used to house the Post Office – two in Broad Street and one in George Street, not forgetting one in Charles Street, onrin Larkhall (currently closed and one in Combe Down. So presumably Foxhill is the only open post office in thr city?

  8. Lower Weston has a Post Office which is freestanding, not a sub-PO.
    I don’t know about Bath Spa university, but Bath University has its own small Post Office, though its hours are rather short. Largely used for sending packages to China.
    We still need one in the centre though.

    1. At the moment the PO in the old Smiths is the ONLY one in Bath that does such things as Gov ID checking for those wanting to use online personal account services such as the DVLA or HMRC. Otherwise you have to go to Bristol or similar far-flung places.

      Sadly a simple fact that the Gov’s mad rush to do everything online has failed to keep up with. They just *assume* that life for ‘normal folk’ is in accordance with their ‘norm’.

      1. You don’t have to go as far as Bristol, Keynsham PO offers all those services. Combe Down offers Document Certification and might take on the others if they are not available elsewhere in the city.

      2. At the moment just getting to Saltford and back is a challenge on the A4, Keynsham would probably be even worse!

        But my point is – why have we come to the situation that a City like Bath may well have no main PO, so we all have to travel to a much smaller place to get an essential service?

  9. Possibly because of its pre-eminence in the world’s postal history – the world’s first postage stamp was issued and postmarked in Bath in 1840 – or perhaps Bath just had more than its fair share of letter-writing intellectuals, the city always had a disproportionately high number of sub post offices. Those closed since 1990 have been Bathford (2008), Bathwick Hill (2001), Bathwick Street (2005), Bear Flat (2017), Charles Street (2005), Claremont (2008), Combe Down (2005), East Twerton (1998), Kingsway (2003), Longacre (1996), Moorfields (2025), Odd Down (2018), St Andrews (2005), Southgate (2008), South Twerton (2003), Swainswick (2003), Wedgewood Road (2018), Westmoreland (1996), Whiteway (2005), Widcombe Parade (2002), Yomede Park (2003). It is wholly unacceptable that the city should be without a large, properly staffed and fully functioning city-centre post office, even for one week.

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