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A new Post Office complete with sorting office at the rear was opened in West Street in 1981, one of the most modern in South
Lincolnshire. It replaced the old premises next to Lloyds Bank in the Market
Place that had been in use for eighty years. This building subsequently became an
off-licence and then after several months of standing empty, was taken over in 2000 by the estate agents Quinney Marks.
The new red brick Post Office has been extremely popular with customers, providing more space for their transactions and, more importantly, for the regular queues that build up on pension day and at other busy periods, although there have been some problems. In 1984, the management at Peterborough insisted on closing on Wednesday afternoons to enable staff training sessions to take place to improve the standard of service to customers but townspeople complained that they were being denied a valuable service and the decision was later rescinded after official protests by the town council, the Post Office Users' Council and the local M P, who was then Sir Kenneth Lewis.
A major restructuring of the Post Office in the summer of 1988 brought a fresh threat to the service when, because Bourne was one of the smallest Crown offices in the country, it was proposed to cut costs by downgrading it to an agency office. This would involve handing the business over to an agent or sub-postmaster who would be offered the premises on lease from the Royal Mail or run it from his own business address. The most acceptable application involved transferring the Post Office to
premises at Nos 42-44 North Street which were then being used as a launderette and although the management considered this, it proved to be a major misjudgement and a wave of public protest followed when the issue was taken up not only by the local newspapers but also by the television and radio channels. The town council also complained that the premises were totally unsuitable for postal services and that customers would have to queue outside on the pavement while vans delivering and collecting mail would create havoc for passing traffic.
The management were forced to rethink their strategy and in 1991 the Post
Office appointed a new sub-postmaster who was allowed to stay in the present
building although it is now run under private contract. As a result, the
postal services that were once the only transactions carried out here have
been supplemented by a range of retail outlets such as greetings cards,
sweets and stationery, designed to keep the business economically viable,
although the aura is now one of a shop rather than the trustworthy and
reassuring atmosphere that the post office exuded in past times.
Nevertheless, it remains in appearance and operation, the town's Post
Office, a much loved facility, and in 2003, a second attempt to close it and
relocate the business, this time as a counter service at the back of a
liquor store 50 yards down West Street towards the Market Place, was
abandoned after several months of protest by the public and local
organisations. An illustrated history of the postal services in Bourne and the
growth of the
Post Office can be found on the CD-ROM A Portrait
of Bourne. Return to
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