00:00Former WH Smith shops now trading as TG Jones are closing across the West
00:06Midlands and with them their post office counters. Solly Hall has already lost
00:11its town centre branch. Other counters are due to shut in the months ahead. For
00:17residents that can mean a longer trip for everyday postal services in
00:22communities already affected by bank closures. Very quick sort of historical
00:27sort of context. Post offices are a sort of something that we sort of we trust
00:32because of course they've been there forever it seems to me that you know
00:35certainly when I grew up the post office is the sort of hub of the local community
00:38a bit like the sort of the bakers and the sort of the grain
00:40grocers and the local bank. It was somewhere of course that you regard as
00:45being part of the government part of Royal Mail but of course the reality is
00:48the sort of post office that we sort of know you know they were hived off from
00:51sort of from Royal Mail a number of years ago as separate concerns. Now of
00:56course the sort of the fact is though they were still sort of places that
00:59people sort of went to sort of to pay money in to sort of to cash gyros all
01:03their pensions but of course they're sort of they're disappearing at a sort of a
01:07rapid rate of knots to the extent we're sort of in the sort of the West
01:09Midlands. Finding a post office can be sort of something of a sort of a
01:12challenge because of course you know that they're not there anymore.
01:16Solly Hall lost its town centre post office when TG Jones closed in July.
01:21Droitwich's Victoria Square post office counter closed in October.
01:26Erdington's counter is due to close in January while Sutton Coalfields is expected
01:30to close when its TG Jones shop shuts in the new year.
01:35Separately the Spa and post office on Watford Road in Cotteridge closed in
01:39October. No reason has been given for that closure. Now TG Jones is owned by
01:45Medela Capital. The company is restructuring after years of losses and
01:49falling sales under a court approved plan that allows them to close up to 150
01:55stores. So where do people go who've lost their services? Well banking hubs are
02:01opening. They're for people who've lost local bank branches. They offer cash
02:05withdrawals and deposits through a post office counter with bank staff available
02:09on set days. And of course the fact is though it's a big post offices they sort of
02:14shrunk and were often sort of went into sort of other premises such as WH
02:19Smiths which of course became TG Jones. And of course the sort of the story of
02:22that is they're closing down. So of course as they close down this is where the
02:26sort of the post office which is if you like a sort of subsidiary element
02:29disappears. So the fact is though somewhere that we can sort of go and as I
02:33say you know do financial services has become something of a challenge.
02:37Particularly of course the sort of the major banks they're also closing.
02:40The post office says it's working to keep services available nearby to closed
02:44branches. Though replacement counters are still being sought. Banking hubs may
02:49help with everyday cash but they cannot replace postal services. For residents the
02:55practical impact will depend on how far they must travel for an alternative.
02:59We need to be different sections.
02:59The solution is the best of the state.
