Bridgwater Post Office heading for Sainsbury's?

8:50am Tuesday 3rd July 2012 in Bridgwater Area News

The temporary Post Office in Northgate The temporary Post Office in Northgate

COMMUNITY leaders in Bridgwater say plans by Post Office to set up the town’s main branch in Sainsbury’s are ‘appalling’.

It emerged this week that Post Office has made the store on The Clink its preferred option to replace the current temporary outlet in Northgate, which MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has branded ‘a disgrace’.

Bridgwater Town Council learned of the plans last week and town clerk Alan Hurford said councillors had been left ‘appalled’ by the choice of venue.

A Post Office spokesman said it had been working to find a permanent site and has considered several options.

He added: “We hope to be able to make an announcement soon regarding the proposed new site.

What do you think of the plans? Let us know in the comments box below.

Comments(28)

katalina21 says...
10:57am Tue 3 Jul 12

This isn't very good if it is going to be in Sainsbury's. What about pensioners who are not very steady on their legs? It's a bit of a far walk through town for them to get to sainsbury's not to mention all the traffic lights to get through on the way there.

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swjoduk says...
12:18pm Tue 3 Jul 12

I still think someone like Argos or one of the town centre's other empty premises would be ideal. Sainsburys doesn't really have the space.

Maybe have a temporary location in a proper building and then relocate to the Tesco when it is eventually built. Still pretty central with a lot of footfall

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Olires says...
12:21pm Tue 3 Jul 12

What can one say but absolutely crazy. Leave it where it is, it's far better that Sainsburys who are just looking to increase their profits.

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RustyKnight says...
1:27pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Amazing, the Facebook community has been discussing this since Friday but this is the first time the Murky mentions it.

Hardly up-to-date with the news is it?

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Harborough-Ann says...
1:40pm Tue 3 Jul 12

If it isn't bad enough that the new hospital has been sited on Bath Road/Bower Lane corner.
As everything else is either on the outskirts of the town OR out of town, the Post Office might as well be on the Express Park!! as everything else is in the wrong place. Whatever happened to the TOWN CENTRE?

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grisleyreg says...
4:20pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Guess they think the new Tesco will kill off the town centre soon.
Access in and out of Sainsburys is appalling at any time to add the town Post Office to this site is ridiculous.
With so many other options available this must be purely down to money the Post Office once again abusing the Monopoly they hold.

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Bridgy old Boy says...
8:19pm Tue 3 Jul 12

incredibly stupid decision but bearing in mind the various botched attempts made so far by the Post Office not surprising. The Post Office needs to be in the Town Centre where it could really help to boost an already flagging trade. A real opportunity missed and really question how much weight will be given to this so called consultation that we have been promised.

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MINIME2 says...
8:21pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Why wasnt it left in the precicnt premises the shop moved out everything for post office was allready connected and up and running. They want to revitalse the town centre yet they are putting essentials further and further away from the town centre.This idea is rediculous.If it is put in Sainsbury anyone that uses the post office make sure you dont shop in Sainsbury .

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Puriton62 says...
9:55pm Tue 3 Jul 12

No one else has come forward to take on the agency so far. Any one willing to take on the PO agency could rent any of the empty units in town and apply to PO Ltd to run the franchise. Several have looked at doing so but income derived from running a Post Office is declining and viability of the business isn't guaranteed and would be seen as a high risk investment. A supermarket can afford to take it on as a loss leader to help footfall into their store. Sainsburys has probably made this business decision to try and protect custom in the event of Tescos opening nearby. Don't be under the illusion that Sainsburys will be making any sort of vast profit out of housing the PO. The floorspace would make more profit per square foot if it was used for retail than it ever will using it for a Post Office.
Post offices are only going to survive in the future if they are associated with a large retail offering. They simply are not viable on their own.
The biggest potential threat from this move is to other post offices in the customer shopping radius of Sainsburys. If customers who usually use other offices use this one when doing their shopping it could fatally harm these offices.
Of course customers who are able to travel could discover the many benefits of using a smaller office for their general PO needs!!

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BaldCarl2 says...
10:14pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Great.
Looks like I'll have to go to Morrisons now to avoid all the old fuddy duddys queuing up for their pensions and books of stamps etc

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Alex@SDA says...
10:42pm Tue 3 Jul 12

I will not use Sainsburys or anywhere else in that retail park unless I have to.

Reason, ACCESS or rather lack of, and in particular getting out of there. Once upon a time there was an unofficial exit by cutting back to the Drove, and it was decided to stop people using it. Nobody knows why?

Asda would have made sense, even if they utilised the old doctors surgery leased out by Asda.

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artful280 says...
9:01am Wed 4 Jul 12

Alex@SDA wrote:
I will not use Sainsburys or anywhere else in that retail park unless I have to.

Reason, ACCESS or rather lack of, and in particular getting out of there. Once upon a time there was an unofficial exit by cutting back to the Drove, and it was decided to stop people using it. Nobody knows why?

Asda would have made sense, even if they utilised the old doctors surgery leased out by Asda.
The cut through to the Drove was shut off because it was dangerous. It was two way traffic and pedestrian access. I work right by it and used it often. It wasn't unusual too see a stand off between two cars too see who would reverse and let the other one through.. the council have not widened it because they are trying to force whoever buys the land next door , or Sainsburys to contribute to the bill.

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grisleyreg says...
9:28am Wed 4 Jul 12

The Drove should have been kept open if only one way preferably out from the site.

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vikkii83 says...
9:45am Wed 4 Jul 12

"...No one else has come forward to take on the agency so far. Any one willing to take on the PO agency could rent any of the empty units in town and apply to PO Ltd to run the franchise..."

The true story regarding the post office is that there was an independent who had applied to take on the franchise. It was going to be located at the back of the new Hooks of Bridgwater store (Hooks wouldn't be running it, the post office would be in a self contained unit) facing Asda and next to the bus station, with free customer car parking upstairs. The post office had been in store to measure up and draw up detailed plans. The landlord of the building had been down and was making good progress with the guy who would be taking it on and then at the last minute the post office gave the franchise to sainsburys.

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awayswing says...
12:37pm Wed 4 Jul 12

As Tesco's show no sign of coming to Bridgwater in the next few years why not leave the Post Office where it is?Does anybody know if Sainsbury's will be the franchise holder?

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Puriton62 says...
2:12pm Wed 4 Jul 12

PO Ltd are moving towards having PO facilities in a C-Store environment. It's called Network Transformation and is an ongoing program. It's not unusual for PO Ltd to look at several different options but they will always favour a location with high footfall potential. They will also consider long term potential, leases etc as it obviously incurs expense to PO Ltd in setting up an outlet and they don't want to have to keep doing it everytime a lease renewal isn't made. So they obviously took this into consideration when making their decision as to who to award the franchise to - Sainsburys was seen as the more stable environment with better footfall potential. Unfortunately Straight forward business decision based on current economic factors are not always popular with everyone.
It musnt be forgotten that Sainsburys already has planning permission to extend the store and I believe the Drive access is included in that.

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Alex@SDA says...
3:43pm Wed 4 Jul 12

Thank you "Artful280" for your answer to my point on the narrow cut-through to the drove. Makes sense in what you say, pity a solution was not found.

Morrisons might have been better, and can be reached on foot from town. I imagine any business in town with a parcel to go out will find Sainsburys inconvenient.

The big problem with the Sainsburys site, is getting off the estate.

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MR.GOF says...
3:53pm Wed 4 Jul 12

Great then you can do your weekly shop there too,nice one sainsbury`s it`s a win win for profits.............
.....

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the voice of common sense says...
4:52pm Wed 4 Jul 12

Planning permission was granted several years ago to upgrade the drove cut through but it was never done, probably because sainsburies have planning permission to increase the size of their store but are doing nothing while bridgwater backwards and their friends campaign hard to persuade Tesco not to come here. The same applies to Asda and Morrisons with regard to planning permissions

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awayswing says...
9:02am Fri 6 Jul 12

the voice of common sense wrote:
Planning permission was granted several years ago to upgrade the drove cut through but it was never done, probably because sainsburies have planning permission to increase the size of their store but are doing nothing while bridgwater backwards and their friends campaign hard to persuade Tesco not to come here. The same applies to Asda and Morrisons with regard to planning permissions
Tesco's have a three year moratorium on building large stores,they say they do not make enough money out of them.Clearly in three years time we will have more idea whether Tesco's will be coming to Bridgwater or not.The problem with the siting of a new Post Office has little to do with a local protest group and a lot to do with Post Office Ltd. wanting to get rid of what passes for the main PO Counter in Bridgwater and not replacing it.

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Puriton62 says...
1:52pm Fri 6 Jul 12

Any new town office that goes into Bridgwater will be a PO Mains model!! Get real if you were running a business and parts of it were losing money wouldn't you either sell it or offset the running costs elsewhere? The taxpayer is subsidising Post Offices at the moment as people are moving away from using them and other suppliers have moved into what was the Post Offices traditional Market. Running costs are high and pay is low - they are no longer an attractive business proposition! They will only survive if they become part of another retail environment and as business people you cannot blame them for weighing up the options and going where they feel the service has the best chance of surviving long term but where it had a chance of possibly becoming profitable - everyone would soon moan if it went back to a portacabin in 12 months. Ok it isn't ideal- you will always have winners and losers but it's better than what the town currently has and the franchise has been up for grabs for a year now and there hasn't exactly been a massive queue of businesses waiting to take it on. The bottom line is use it or lose it. If the people of Bridgwater don't support it ( like villagers with village PO's) then they will lose it. Simples!

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mobyman says...
3:08am Sat 7 Jul 12

another great bit of planning yet again for bridgwater?not much thought gone into this yet again.they got brdgy by the nuts as it needs a po and everyone needs one leaving people no choice but to trundle across town to take their heavy parcels,collect their pensions etc.great buisseness for mac ds suppose.why dont they buy a red telephone box like they just have in bos they can put it halfway across town as all the public conveniences are closed.

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sheldoncooper says...
11:38am Sat 7 Jul 12

Pensions can be paid into a bank account and drawn from a cash point or bank in town rather than go to the upcoming "out of town" post office.

For people with access to PCs there is no need to take packages to the Post office and pay through the nose - there are a number of companies online that will collect from your home and charge a lot less than Royal Mail.

Road tax can be done online so can many other things .

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awayswing says...
11:41am Sat 7 Jul 12

Post Office Ltd. have been badly treated by the last two governments.Having been denied business PO now look unattractive to any potential franchise applicants.This situation could be easily reversed.Now more than ever this country is crying out for a reliable and trustworthy bank.Starting a Postbank or NS&I bank run from POs would be just what everybody wants and needs.Unfortunately the political will is not there as the banks and the City are major donors to the Conservative Party and would not allow this to happen.

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awayswing says...
10:06am Sun 8 Jul 12

sheldoncooper wrote:
Pensions can be paid into a bank account and drawn from a cash point or bank in town rather than go to the upcoming "out of town" post office.

For people with access to PCs there is no need to take packages to the Post office and pay through the nose - there are a number of companies online that will collect from your home and charge a lot less than Royal Mail.

Road tax can be done online so can many other things .
If you are not online and you bank at the PO none of the above helps.Independant parcel carriers do not deliver to everywhere in the country.

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sheldoncooper says...
9:59am Mon 9 Jul 12

awayswing wrote:
sheldoncooper wrote:
Pensions can be paid into a bank account and drawn from a cash point or bank in town rather than go to the upcoming "out of town" post office.

For people with access to PCs there is no need to take packages to the Post office and pay through the nose - there are a number of companies online that will collect from your home and charge a lot less than Royal Mail.

Road tax can be done online so can many other things .
If you are not online and you bank at the PO none of the above helps.Independant parcel carriers do not deliver to everywhere in the country.
I did say "for people with access to PC's" and I think you will find that carriers will deliver anywhere in the UK but charge a premium for Highlands and offshore postcodes such as Isle of Wight.

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awayswing says...
7:58pm Mon 9 Jul 12

For SheldonCooper

My point is that one third of houses in this country,at the last count,are not on line.These people clearly need a PO counter better placed than a mile out of town,particularly as they are likely to be elderly.As for independant parcel carriers embracing the Universal Delivery Obligation good luck with that one.

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Puriton62 says...
9:15pm Mon 9 Jul 12

Banks do not want queues of people wanting to draw out weekly cash to the nearest penny. ATM's only usually pay out in multiples of £10 - they don't dispense anything less. Currently by law everyone has the right to access their full pension and benefit in cash on the day payment is made. PO's are the only willing outlet in which this can easily be done. Not everyone can afford to leave the 'loose change' in their accounts!

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