Richard Herring Speaks Out on Proposed Post Office Move
And praises Shepherd's Bush Green staff for their 'patience and diligence'
Locally based comedian Richard Herring has spoken out about proposals to close the long established post office on the West side of Shepherd's Bush Green and move the service within WHSmith in Westfield.
Writing on his website he says: " I have had an odd relationship with the Shepherd’s Bush Green post office, having blogged about it and written about it in the Metro and of course my frustrated tweeting of how long the queue was taking.
" A new manager who took over a couple of years back and some brilliant work from a friendly and extremely busy staff (who have to put up with the craziest people that Shepherd’s Bush can throw at it and sarcastic comedians being rude to them) has turned the place around.
" Where once the queue would easily take 30 minutes to get to the front of, nowadays you rarely have to wait more than 10 minutes and often get seen to more or less straight away. Despite my cheekiness the staff have enjoyed my Metro columns and now always greet me with a laugh, thankfully seeing that I was usually lauding them for their patience and diligence in the face of a difficult job.
"They are very good and kind people and I don’t know how they cope with their job without punching everyone who comes in. But they do it without even punching anyone. That’s amazing.
"So I was sad to be informed today that the Post Office is planning to shut down this important main branch and move the store to inside WH Smiths in the Westfield. After all that this team has done for them they are going to shift them (and at least, for now,there are no job losses, though I wonder if that will come too) and they are understandable nervous about it.
"And it does seem a big shame to move this centrally located main post office to the back of a shop, which is much less conveniently located. Especially given how many of the smaller post offices have also gone.
" If you’d like to complain about this move then do what I’ve done and email comments@postoffice.co.uk and let them know your thoughts. I’d like to pay back the staff for whom I occasionally made life troublesome by at least letting their superiors know how brilliantly they have done.
"As for WH Smiths I don’t know if they know what they’ve let themselves in for. They will become a magnet for every crackpot and buffoon in the area, though with a bit of luck they will have all tired themselves out with the extra walk."
Map showing location of Post Office
Residents have until December 7 to make their views heard, either by using the QR code scanner contained in the consultation, emailing comments@postoffice.co.uk, calling 03457 22 33 44 or textphone 03457 22 33 55 or sending a letter by FREEPOST to Your Comments.
MP Andy Slaughter has also asked local people to contact him with their thoughts on the proposed move, by emailing andy@andyslaughter.com.
November 14, 2016
November 14, 2016