The Horizon scandal, which led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters, has severely dented the public’s perception of the Post Office as an institution. Against this backdrop, branch closures are planned across the Post Office network.
These further cuts to a system already struggling can only do further harm to the sense that well-resourced public services could and should play a central role in everyday life.
In my PhD research, I spoke to people about their thoughts on the Post Office and their ideas about the future of society more generally. One interviewee relished their trips to Manchester’s now-closed crown post office at Spring Gardens and described it, with only a little irony, as “the cathedral of post”.
