Letter: Post Office Move Is Another Sign of the Town Centre’s Decline

Published on: 21 Dec, 2018
Updated on: 21 Dec, 2018

From: Harry Elson

In response to: Guildford Post Office to Move to WH Smith In The High Street

The Post Office move will be another nail in the coffin of the declining Guildford town centre. The Post Office should be stand-alone and a destination of choice. If integrated into a shop it will surely end up in chaos.

Big business will continue to reduce costs when it suits them. They care not one jot for the town and its ability to survive and this will not be the last problem. Warning signs are out there regarding the major department stores.

When I visited the town centre yesterday (December 19) I was shocked at the number of vacant shops. There needs to be a strategy adopted very quickly or else big problems are around the corner.

Who is leading the fight back? Certainly it is not the people who gave the go-ahead for the Tunsgate development; the heart has been ripped out of what once was a busy meeting place. It is now almost deserted.

The developers can’t wait to get their hands on North Street. We will see the same people condemning our town to mediocrity. Just look at what is in store at the railway station and what’s happening to the development in Walnut Tree Close.

I think the good people of Guildford are powerless.