The Final Countdown

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Customers bid farewell to Goldhawk Road post office

There were farewell drinks and biscuits on offer at the Goldhawk Road post office this morning (Thursday) as the branch prepared to close its doors for the last time.

 

Customers arrived with cards and presents for the staff at 88 Goldhawk Road, which has its final days on Tuesday 24th June. 

 

Postmistress Usha Shah has been running the branch for 13 years. “We’ll miss our customers,” she said. “We have a lot of memories here.”

 

She said the customers would be bound to miss the branch too. “They don’t want to go to the big one (on Shepherd’s Bush Green). It can’t handle so many people.”

 

However, she seemed to accept the closure. “If something has to be done, it has to be done,” she said. “We thought it would not close because we’re so busy and it is an award winning office, but everything has to change. You can’t run at a loss. This post office was not running at a loss, but the network was.”

 

She said staff would be transferring to another branch, so would not be left jobless. “The staff are very happy,” she said.

 

Customers visiting the office on one of its final days, however, were not so happy. “We have to go to the main post office and queue up,” said Mr S M Casella, who has been using the Goldhawk Road branch since 1994.

 

“It’s diabolical. I’m disabled and I’ll have to park my car on a double yellow line. It’ll be half an hour in there at least. The Post Office does a quarter of the services it used to do. They’ve cut their own throats.”

 

Staff member, Colette, said she was sorry to see the branch close: “It’s very sad. Most of the customers rely on us helping them, especially the elderly ones. This post office has been here for a very long time. The Shahs are going to be deeply missed.”

 

Cecilia, who is a customer and former member of staff said the Shepherd’s Bush Green post office was a far cry from the Goldhawk Road one: “This is a community post office. It deals with people’s needs. The main post office is so impersonal. Some people have been coming here for years, and now their grown-up children come here. People are so angry about it (the closure).”

 

The post office at 68 Askew Road will also close its doors for the last time on Tuesday 24th June.

 

Yasmine Estaphanos

 

19 June 2008