With the owner of TG Jones announcing it plans to close dozens of stores, I’m worried that puts the status of our post office at severe jeopardy. They haven’t announced which stores will close yet, but If the TG Jones goes, our PO would be unviable, I’m sure. I know there’s one in Sydenham, but it would be a real shame to lose the facilities ours offers so conveniently.
Does anyone have ideas how we can keep a PO in FH?
It would also be sad to lose what is actually quite a handy stationery store and bookshop.
To quote the old adage - use it or lose it.
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This is what i posted on another local forum last July:
As far as I’m aware Network Rail continue to own the freehold of the TG Jones building and the subway below. The building we constructed to replace the WH Smith branch that was inside the original station building.
The branding of TG Jones suggests to me that the owners are looking for a quick turn around for this business with more permanent branding for the stores once they have time bring in a branding team or potentially merge the store with other offerings in their portfolio (Hobbycraft and potentially Lakeland). They may well look to pull out of unprofitable sites with short leases, but I suspect that the lease from Network Rail is cheap and was renewed a few years ago (replacing on that had been in place for 50 years), possibly for a similarly long-term. Closing any branch that contains a post office would be likely to be resisted by local residents and it is likely that the inclusion of a post office increases footfall.
But the closure of TG Jones in Forest Hill could also present a useful opportunity to demolish the building and begin the reimagining of the town centre. There are a couple of obvious sites where a small post office could be moved to in Forest Hill - Betfred and Boots immediately spring to mind, or one of the smaller grocery stores could take on the sub-post office functions that are probably not too dissimilar from the TG Jones branch.
Apparently the total TG Jones business is profitable and the cost of the purchase was relatively low compared to profits. There is no reason that the owners don’t just run the business as a cash cow, adding little investment and taking a good profit every year, just closing a few branches at a time as high streets across the country gradually die.
They have now confirmed closure of at least some branches with post offices included. If this does close it would be likely that the post office would look for another local site, possibly a sub post office in a small grocery shop (what we used to call a news agents). Some on Dartmouth Road already offer parcel drop off services and similar.
Perhaps I’m lucky but i haven’t had to use the post office for at least five years. What do people do there that is so unique? Would demolition be such a loss to the area?
There are some great points there Michael. A Post Office in OneStop (a super new shop run by lovely people, by the way) would be great.
But work needs to be done early to make a smooth transition possible - my Dad’s town in west Somerset lost its post office a few years ago, and various efforts have been made to replace it, none bearing fruit.
As for who is using post offices, Royal Mail postal services are still important, as is the facility to pay in cash and cheques, which a lot of older people still like to do.
I think the Boots site is probably too big for a Post Office, and there’s not really any hope of a standalone branch. I also worry about the people who work there losing their jobs.
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I’m confident they’d open a new post office somewhere local, though I agree it is unlikely to be a standalone one.
I see what Michael is saying about the demolition and replacement, but I don’t think we’re ready for that yet (too many other elements to coordinate before that is the likely outcome).
An alternative solution would be for the TG Jones element to be removed, but leave the Post Office above, then bring in a different retailer for the downstairs. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a decent sized Boots with a proper chemist service, there instead? It would still have all the snacks, etc. on offer for rushing station users, but return a chemist to our high street.
We could create a small (independent?) stationer upstairs with the Post Office, or just a much reduced TG Jones outlet.
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A boots would be great, but I can’t see them opening one so soon after having closed the existing branch.
I’m popping to the post office to drop off a parcel this afternoon, and will ask the counter staff if they’ve heard anything about their branch.
I’ll also ask who is responsible for the current service, as any plan to maintain a post office would need to start rolling soon to maintain continuity of coverage.
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to be fair, I think Boots closed this one as it was far too small to be financially viable. They even had to close for lunch! Having a larger footprint, closer to the station, could actually be quite lucrative for them, so I’m not as concerned about that - but we need them to bother looking at it.
I called in to the Post Office to drop off a parcel. The staff there have heard nothing about the shop’s future, though looked understandably concerned. I asked who runs the post office and it turns out to be TG Jones themselves.
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Because of this discussion I forced myself today to look inside that shop for the first time in about 2 years. It looked reassuringly like the last time and I even had some pleasant nostalgia of many decades ago when going into any Smiths was exciting, although it seems laughable now.
But on the way out a courier popped in and asked the man behind the desk if he knew where Dartmouth Road was, and the shop assistant did not but proceeded to go on his phone to look it up. I was almost tempted to wait to see if the shop assistant would find out and have the communications skills necessary to direct this man. I should have stopped just to have seen what would have happened. But instead I spontaneously gave directions myself.
The experience brought back very painful memories of visiting shops in the last two decades and meeting staff who really struggled to answer questions about stock or product specifications. I don’t claim this experience is statistically significant, but I was left with a profound sense of unease about the future of a shop like this. I’m sorry to have to relate this.
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Takes me back to the mid-70s when we used to go upstairs to the records counter to ask for the new-release singles to be played in the sound booths.
Then over the road up to Woolworths and a bite to eat in the Golden Griddle or the Wimpy.
Thorz were t’ dehz!
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I must confess I’ve always found the staff in our TG Jones to be really friendly and helpful.
a special shout out to lovely Linda on the till downstairs who always asks after my other half if she has’nt spotted him heading to or from the station for awhile.
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I don’t know which one is Linda but when I used to go into Smiths/TGJones to buy my elderly mother’s magazines on a Thursday, she always knew that I wanted a receipt.
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It is indeed lovely to hear people describe the positive experiences they do have in shops with the people who work there. Whichever the business, no one is a job title, everyone is a person. It is truly mind boggling that through retail we encounter this everyday theatre of role-play.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
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linda’s the older fair haired lady.
I think she works Part time now..
But as I said before all the staff are really friendly and pleasant to deal with there..Post office staff too I find helpful and friendly.
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If she’s the one with glasses and softly spoken, then she’s nice. I sometimes see her in Sainsbury’s after she finishes work.
All the staff must be worried about their jobs. 
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