The Post Office is proposing to close its branch in The Shambles, Bradford on Avon and replace it with a counter in Budgen’s. This is likely to mean the end of the Poste Restante service that so many boaters rely on to receive mail promptly. There is a consultation by the Post Office that ends on Friday 1st February. Anyone can respond to the consultation; you can get a copy of the full proposals from the Post Office in The Shambles. There is a local campaign to save the Post Office with an online petition. At least one boater has responded to the consultation; you can read their response below.
To respond to the consultation, write to FREEPOST PO Consultation (allow two working days, so post your letter on 30th January), OR email consultation@postoffice.co.uk OR phone 08457 22 33 44
To sign the e-petition go to
Here is the consultation response:
Dear Sir or Madam
I wish to register my objection to the closure and relocation of Bradford on Avon Post Office. The reason given for the imminent closure and relocation of the current Post Office is a creature of the Post Office’s own creation. It is entirely disingenuous and spurious for the Post Office to state that the branch has to move because a temporary agent is running the branch in The Shambles and therefore it could close at short notice at any time. If this is the only obstacle to the Post Office remaining in The Shambles, it is entirely within the Post Office’s power to recruit and train a permanent Postmaster/Postmistress to run the branch permanently. With so many people unemployed at present, this should be easy to achieve.
The consultation document is also wholly misleading in its claims that the new hours of the Post Office if relocated to Budgen’s will be 7am to 11pm, Monday to Sunday. This is completely dishonest. Other Post Offices within larger shops (Devizes for example) do not have the same opening hours as the shop, they have the standard Post Office hours of Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm and Saturday 9am to 12.30pm.
There is a significant community issue that has been completely ignored in this proposal. Currently the Post Office in The Shambles offers a Poste Restante service. This service is not even mentioned in the list of services currently provided by the Post Office and it is not in the list of services to be provided if the branch relocates to Budgen’s.
Bradford on Avon is a local ‘hub’ for the estimated 500 to1500 people who live and travel on boats on the Kennet and Avon Canal in Wiltshire and beyond. The vast majority of these boat dwellers do not have a postal address that they can access regularly. Poste Restante is a vital service that enables people who live on boats to receive mail promptly that they would otherwise have to wait months to collect. Thousands of boaters have benefited from the Poste Restante service at Bradford on Avon Post Office since the Kennet and Avon Canal re-opened in 1990. Closure of the current Post Office and discontinuation of the Poste Restante service will have a significant adverse effect on thousands of people. Please keep the Post Office in The Shambles open.
You can download the letter here Save BOAPostOffice
Tags: Bradford-on-Avon, Letters to BW and others, Lifestyle, liveaboards, mail, Post Office, Poste Restante