People who live in Barry say that since the Crown Post Office on Holton Road closed, they’re having to travel too far to find another one. For people who used the Crown Post Office, the nearest branch is now on Barry High Street, almost a mile away.
The Post Office, which closed earlier this month, was the last Crown Post Office in Barry. It shut because it was losing money. Crown Post Offices are directly run and owned by the Post Office, rather than being franchised out to smaller shops owned by other people.
Ian Johnson, Plaid Cymru Councillor for Barry Town Council, says the closure of the Post Office will badly affect disabled people, because they will have to travel further to find a Post Office with “decent wheel chair access and decent parking.” He says “because the Crown Post Office was directly opposite a car park you didn’t have to walk more than twenty metres to get it to it”. People using public transport to get to the next nearest branch will have to walk 300 metres from the bus stop.
The now empty Post Office is next to another derelict building which used to be Vale of Glamorgan Council offices. Cllr Ian Johnson told CJS news that having two empty buildings in the town center leaves a “gaping hole”. He says “If we want Barry town center and Holton Road to be a thriving town center then these buildings need to be occupied. Having large buildings empty doesn’t give the right image of Barry”.
Many local people are angry about the closure. Wendy Buckle who lives near the Post Office says “I’ve lived in Barry all my life and I’ve always come here to pay all my bills from this Post Office and I think it’s a tragedy that they’ve shut it”.
The Post Office says, “in some locations our directly managed (Crown) branches are loss-making and we cannot look to the taxpayer to subsidise these. In Barry we carefully assessed our provision in the area and there are five other branches nearby so we are confident we can continue to provide customers with good access to our services. There have been improvements made to the nearest branch.”
