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Jun 2020

Last Updated: 12/06/2020

Business

Ripon Post Office to move to more accessible location

by Tim Flanagan

| 15 Jun, 2020

The need for better accessibility is the principal reason behind the decision to move Ripon's main Post Office to a unit in The Arcade, just off Market Place

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Ripon's main Post Office is moving from Finkle Street to a more easily accessible retail unit in The Arcade, off Market Place.

Postmistress Amy Kaur, told The Stray Ferret:

"We have wanted to move for some time, because the steps outside our current premises make access difficult for the elderly, disabled, wheelchair users and people with children in prams and pushchairs."

The city's Post Office (pictured) has been in Finkle Street for more than 60 years and over the last six decades the services it provides have evolved.

Amy, pointed out:

"In additional to selling postage stamps, accepting parcels for delivery, paying out pensions, handling passport and driving licence applications and car tax renewals, we provide financial services ranging from travel currency to business banking and cash and cheque transactions."

The new unit in The Arcade, which has street-level access, will be fully operational by September, when Amy and her colleagues Raj Raj, Sue Lewis and Gordon Royle move to the new location.

As well as providing the full range of Post Office services, the office will include a Quidz In value store.

A key element of the service provided is also expanding - as the mobile Post Office unit headed by Gordon Royle, now covers 22 towns and villages in the Ripon area, with the possibility of a further two locations to be added.

Gordon, said: "During the current coronavirus crisis, when many people living in rural communities remain isolated in their homes and unable to travel to Ripon, the mobile service has grown in popularity."