A postman from Basingstoke who was awarded the third best postie in the UK has left the Royal Mail after 11 years.
Leslie Bowman, 62, had his last day serving the Rooksdown area on August 15, after delivering their mail for eight years.
After sharing the news on Facebook, he received around 400 messages from residents, wishing him well.
Les said: “That was the hardest thing, letting them all know that I’m not going to be serving them anymore.
“A lot of them didn’t want me to go but, I’ve been serving them for eight years. You have to move on and make changes with your life.”
In May 2025, Les came third in the Best Postie of the Year award in the first Heart of Royal Mail Awards, out of 90,000 posties in the UK.
On his final route, Les said he had not expected anything special until he turned a corner and found his wife and a group of residents waiting to celebrate him.
He said: “I was part of their community and they didn’t want me to go. I didn’t really want to leave, but it was time for me to leave.
“I just miss everybody, and I will keep in contact, so it will be good.”
Residents gifted him presents and cards, including a few children who made him a UK Number 1 postman award.
Les is now working for a company that deliver stationery to businesses, and is still adjusting to the working hours, after years of starting his workday at 2.30am for the Royal Mail.
Rather than working 12 hours a day, six days a week, with a few hours on Sunday, he is now working 40 hours across Monday to Friday.
He said: “It’s a massive massive change. I’m still struggling with it. Your body clock needs to change drastically.”
He added that his step count has reduced dramatically, changing from around 40,000 steps a day to about 8,000.
Looking ahead, Les plans to move to Wales with his wife, where he expects to retire.
He said: “It’s time to give up a little bit and take it easy.
“I just needed a change of scenery, in a few months time, I’ll probably be retiring and moving to Wales.”
