Winchester: 'We need our post office'

ON 5 April, Socialist Party members gathered near WH Smiths in Winchester in a demonstration showing our disgust at the local post office's move to a cramped space in the back of that shop.

This is part of the closure of post offices around the country, with over 60 being axed in Hampshire alone. Closures of 'sub' post offices are already affecting people in the Winchester area.

Losing our post office would put a nail in Winchester's coffin as a community with mass closures and reductions in staff and service, so the plans brought fierce opposition from local residents.

They will now face potentially longer queues, trickier access and for those now lacking a local sub post office, a bus ride on increasingly scarce public transport. Campaigning, largely through city centre stalls, we have collected over 1,000 signatures for our petitions opposing the move.

With the local media in attendance, the demo was a good culmination of our action. It got a response from shoppers and local residents beyond that of past stalls, collecting even more signatures. One demonstrator commented: "We, as a community, need a post office. We should all play a part in demos that affect our lives".

Nich Brook-Hart, Winchester