Bolton Post Office closure: Tears as customers bid farewell to redundant workers

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THERE were tears and sadness as Bolton’s main post office closed its doors and had its windows blanked out for the final time.

Despite claims of redeployment, all 16 Deansgate staff lost their jobs yesterday.

Meanwhile, the new post office which will open its doors today in Oxford Street is promising the same service to the public of Bolton — an assertion queried by the union representing staff.

Asked how they had dealt with their final day, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) representative in the North West, Neil Barry said: “Well they are professional people and they do their job, but customers who they have built up a rapport with over the years were coming in with cakes and flowers and tears and saying things like ‘we are sad to see you go’ because it’s a community spirit that has been built up.


“There was one customer who they have made a cup of tea for who comes in every week and he is very upset. And customers are bringing their emotions on to the staff and the staff are having to take a step back.

“Most of the staff here are female who have young families, mortgages, but travelling to another office is not feasible and redundancy was the only way out.”

The CWU deplored the way staff had first learned of the closure.

According to Mr Barry, who was in Bolton yesterday, he had been told that the Post Office was looking for a new smaller office to relieve pressure on the Deansgate office, but had no knowledge that the rights to their office would be sold off to the new franchisee in Oxford Street.

The staff at Deansgate only found out that their office was closing down in March, after postal delivery staff told counter staff they would be moving to Oxford Street.

As a result, a Post Office director was forced to come to Bolton to apologise to stunned and tearful staff that the details had indeed been leaked, before confirming it was shutting down the Deansgate site.

Mr Barry added: “Another consideration is that the people of Bolton won’t have the expertise given that the staff at Deansgate had over 400 years of combined service together and you won’t get that back again.”


In 2017 Bolton scooped the Wow Award for Best Customer Service at the Post Office Retail Sales Awards.

“Just recently the Post Office announced that every post office in the Crown network would be put up for potential buyers, just like Bolton, which was never put up for another buyer, it was put for sale because the buyer said, I don’t want another office, I want the Crown and this closure is another nail in the coffin of the Crown Post Office network.”