Trying to get something posted in this town is an absolute nightmare at the mo! Church Street Post Office is (only temporarily thank god) closed, and since the one opposite the scarlet pimpernel closed down there is only the high street post office left. There was one person behind the counter and a queue of about 20 people. I waited 20minutes after which I had to go because my parking had run out and in that time I'd moved forward two spaces. I calculated that at that rate I would be served in approximately 3 hours time and so will take my parcel to Barnstaple tomorrow and post it there!

If I were you I would drive to Berrynarbor Post Office, big free car park and you could get there and back quicker than you would get served in Ilf!

On Monday (29th August) they said they will be closed until AT LEAST next weekend due to emergency building work :(

Having just queued for half an hour at the High Street franchise Post Office, I was struck by the plight of the two young ladies who had to cope with a never ending queue. The two young ladies had to deal with complex transactions. The two young ladies were working in an airless environment. The two young ladies were working in a windowless environment, and, very likely, they were working for the minimum wage. Compare their plight to the young ladies working at the Ilfracombe Centre. The young ladies working at the Ilfracombe Centre work in an airy environment and merely sit and smile whilst, very likely, receiving a more than generous salary. How much longer can the private sector afford to finance the excesses of the public sector? I thank the young ladies at the franchise Post Office for their steadfastness and resilience. It is they who are the backbone of our country.

Yes, skareggae72, it is those at the top in the private sector who are "cutting to the bone". Seemingly, those at the bottom, those who are merely working to put bread on the table, who must pay the price of whatever. The issue being that those at the top of the private sector must not make any sacrifices and nor must anyone in the public sector. It is the hard-working and generally uncomplaining folk, who keep the wheels turning, who are expected to rise to the occasion. The ladies at the one and only franchise Post Office in Ilfracombe High Street deserve the praise and appreciation of Ilfracombe for keeping their cool in the face of intense pressure.

If you think that the ladies at The Ilfracombe Centre do nothing but smile, please feel free to apply for the job "Customer Service Centre Adviser" , or just send for the job discription, maybe then you can make an informed comment.

Dont know,maybe it will be open for the Christmas rush(Dec the 1st maybe?)
Or maybe its just a big con,and it will stay closed forever and become a home for spiders and ever increasing cobwebs.

I never go into a Post Office. Have hardly used one in years. I tax my car on-line, and when I'm due my pension that will be automatically credited to my bank account. If I have a letter to post I go on-line and use the on-line postage at royalmail.com. You can print postage on envelopes or labels. Why pensioners waste their valuable time queueing up for pensions I shall never now. E-mails and texts have replaced letters, but you can still write and send a letter and buy the postage on line. Anybody who still buys Christmas cards can print off a sheet of labels with the postage printed on them by visiting http://tinyurl.com/d823xk2 Or better still, stop sending them altogether and stop all this waste of paper. Forget Post Offices. They are an anachronism and a thing of the past.

Hi Jemma14 - I can understand why some pensioners want to keep the Post Office open but they have to move with the times like everyone else. I'm almost due my pension from the state and the last thing I'll want to do is go down to the town on a cold, foggy, rainy day and queue up in that ghastly little post office at the back of a shop and wait in turn for those two miserable-faced employees to serve me. In my club, where virtually everyone is a pensioner, most are now convinced of the convenience of on-line services. They have mobiles, too, and who would want to queue at a red telephone kiosk now?
As for the Crown Post Office in the High Street, which is a total disgrace, it appears that nobody knows who owns it, not even the Royal Mail. It could indeed be used as a Post Office/Parcel Pick office. I think ARGOS should go in there myself. Post Office business has declined hugely. There is low demand for Postal Orders, Telegrams don't exist, and Premum Bonds are bought on the NS&I website. Basically it's just pensions, benefits and post and these are not profitable. The government pays the Post Office to distribute pensions and they want to save money by having them credited to bank accounts. I can undersand the sentimental reasons for wanting to keep the post offices going - I worked for the Post Office myself for years - but it is certainly on the way out. Even the banks are pulling out. The HSBC and Natwest has gone in Braunton, and soon all the banks in Ilfracombe will become second hand shops at the rate of closures. They call it progress, but it is progress, in the same way ATMs and 24 hour TV is. Life is getting better for pensioners, not worse. It is the young who are suffering now.