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Blackpool post office shuts for good
"ABANDONED".
That was the feeling among residents as the first of the Fylde's 11 doomed post offices closed its doors for the last time.
St Annes Road post office in South Shore shut its doors for the last time yesterday to the bitter disappointment of its customers.
Layton's Torsway Avenue post office, hailed as a vital service for Blackpool's Victoria Hospital, will close today.
Lee Cropper, sub-postmaster at the St Annes Road for 14 years, said customers felt cast aside by bosses.
He said: "While I understand it's a business decision, post offices are a community provider. It's about customer service and people feel they've been abandoned because there's so far to go to the next post office.
"We've had superb customers, they've been very loyal. There's been a post office on this site for 60 years. You get to know the customers personally, they become friends.
"It's the only time some people come out and speak to someone."
Customers using the post office for the last time said their goodbyes to staff members.
Eric Scott, 75, from South Shore, said: "It's terrible. I come here every week for my pension. I'm sorry to see it go. It's a very sad day."
Steve Knight, 38, of Kimberley Avenue, South Shore, said: "I'm gutted because I use it quite a lot. It's local to me. Highfield is always busy and you struggle to park. I've always used this post office, it's always been good."
David Partington, 45, of Lytham Road, South Shore, said: "It's dreadful. It'll affect people who don't have transport and can't walk far. The government doesn't support people anymore."
For employees, the cost-cutting exercise by Post Office Ltd – which claims it is losing 4m a week nationally – means taking early retirement or looking for a new job.
Linda Whalley, a counter assistant at St Annes Road post office for two years, has decided to take early retirement – but would have carried on working if the post office hadn't been axed.
She said: "I'm not going to get another job now. I would have carried on here otherwise. It's quite surreal. It's sad for the customers – for some of them we're the only people they talk to from one week to another when they collect their pensions."
The Gazette's Stand up for Post Offices campaign saw vast support for the 12 branches across the Fylde coast earmarked for closure as part of nationwide cuts.
Only Lytham's Warton Street post office was saved from the hit-list.
Blackpool Council had attempted to save St Annes Road post office, but were forced to pull out of negotiations after Post Office Ltd failed to release financial details.
Council leader Peter Callow said: "They (Post Office Ltd] would not release the financial details so there was nothing we could do to sort out a rescue package."
Closures of the 11 doomed post offices will continue over the next month with branches in Fleetwood, Cleveleys and Poulton the last to shut their doors on May 12.
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Weather for Blackpool
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
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