That's one of the issues with the franchise model, if the franchisee can't make it work, they can close and leave local people without a post office for weeks, possibly months while PO Ltd find another business to take it on.

In my area, the Costcutter took on the PO after the original sub PO ...

All of the nearest Express stores to me are now caged at the counter. I thought it might just be a London thing because of the higher risk of theft, but it appears to be a national rollout.

My local Post Office Ltd branch was franchised at the end of October, so on my first visit back I noticed they've stopped selling the WHSmith branded stationary for no-name products.

Before the changes, if you topped up electricity or gas, they'd walk to the back office to top up there, now they ...

simonipswich1 wrote: Sun 09 Nov, 2025 17.35 Made a purchase in TG Jones, receipt said TG Jones but when the money was debit from my bank account it was WH Smith.

They're still using WHSmith's systems for at least a year after the sale.

bilky asko wrote: Wed 05 Nov, 2025 15.26 Is this something they've been doing elsewhere prior to this?

Yes I've seen those conversions at the Catford and Lewisham superstores.

To their credit, at least Tesco still have staffed checkouts while my nearest Sainsburys will only open them up if there's a demand.

Not the number of changes, but the type here.

Edinburgh's Morningside area has always been quite affluent but it was illustrated quite neatly by the Safeway becoming a Waitrose and then the Iceland becoming a M&S Simply Food (now M&S Foodhall).


East Dulwich (affluent part of London) also had ...

I also use Surfshark, but use split tunneling to use Pres Cafe with my standard ISP connection.

Back in the 90s there was a Tesco Metro on London's Oxford Street from what I remember was on two floors with escalators to the basement.

Bodycare is returning as an investment group led by former Body Shop CEO Charles Denton has acquired the branding and intellectual property.

https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/bodycare- ... y-shop-ceo

Sainsbury's Nine Elms in London has escalators up to the store itself.

1mbroglio wrote: Tue 07 Oct, 2025 13.57 Newspapers if I can help it.

Even my 74 year old mother has given up newspapers except on Sundays as she likes the magazine that comes with it but the weekday papers are now simply too expensive.