The Changing Face of The Post Office

What is it about the General Post Office these days? I remember the old sprawling imposing Victorian building that seemed like going into an ancient library or bank. Well surprise, surprise that building is now a pub and night club whilst the GPO moved next door into a smaller building. That significantly smaller premises could service a population that has not decreased greatly is of course significant. It shows that the face of the Post Office is vanishing from the community.

I don't go into post offices very often. I sometimes go in to buy some stamps but I don't buy stamps very often. I sometimes go in to send parcels but I don't send parcels very often. I don't write letters very often - texts and emails have seen to that. It seems to me that the visibility of the Post Office is diminishing and several local branches such as the one on Clepington Road have long since closed.

The General Post Office has a new face. Indeed GPO could easily be branded the Giro Payment Office. Today, outside the GPO there was a skirmish among alcohol or drug fuelled customers (that drugs theme again) whose alliances and conflicts spilled out from the building to the street. I used to remember the GPO as sombre building where one would wait quietly and respectfully in line. Now it's a good place to go to see a fight.