10:57am Thursday 9th October 2008
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By Tyrone Marshall »
Just over a year after Blackpool’s Abingdon Street post office closed its doors for the final time, council chiefs and resort MPs have called on Royal Mail to sort it out.
Most of the three-storey building was left empty when the post office relocated to the basement of WH Smith’s last September, with just the delivery office occupying a section at the back of the building.
It was initially put on the market by Royal Mail bosses but this week it was revealed that the building is no longer for sale.
Now the prominent landmark, described as “key to the town’s regeneration”, remains empty and is in danger of becoming rundown.
Council leader Peter Callow said: “A year ago we understood they had found a buyer and it would just be a matter of time before the deal was concluded.
“Yet now we are being told the building isn’t even on the market.
“I thought the reason for moving the post office was a commercial reason and to release capital for Royal Mail.
“A year on, the move doesn’t seem to have benefited Royal Mail or the people of Blackpool.”
Coun Callow said the future of the building was of paramount importance to the council and that they would be pressing Royal Mail to make a decision on its future as soon as possible.
“This is an iconic building for the town,” he added. “It is a building that local people are rightly proud of.
“If it is just left to deteriorate and rot away then it will be scandalous and as a council we will not put up with that.”
Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP Joan Humble also urged Royal Mail to make their plans known for the future of the building.
She said: “It is a huge shame that Royal Mail doesn’t seem to have decided what to do with the building yet.
“At the moment we are looking at new plans for the area around St John’s Church and of course the Talbot Gateway scheme is only a few years off, yet this landmark building is key to the town’s regeneration.”
A spokesman for Royal Mail yesterday (Wednesday) said: “With the Royal Mail delivery office still using part of the back of what was the Abingdon Street post office, the building is not currently on the market.”
After a similar architecturally significant general post office closed in Birley Street, in the centre of Preston four years ago, the space was used for several high profile art exhibitions from internationally recognised artists and earlier this year became the permanent home of the PAD Gallery.
Coun Callow said a similar scheme here would interest the council, but that no talks had taken place.
“We have not been approached by Royal Mail and we certainly haven’t approached them,” he said.
“For such a scheme we would need significant money and while it is something we would like to do, there are no plans at the moment.”
Mrs Humble added: “I would like to see the building used for a quality initiative, whether it be cultural, retail or something else.”