NEXT WEDNESDAY'S OFFICIAL OPENING AT BIDEFORD - LEAVING HIGH STREET AFTER 73 YEARS
Next Wednesday afternoon, a month ahead of schedule, Bideford's new Head Post Office building, a handsome addition to the Quayside frontage, will be officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Devon, Lord Roborough.

That night the doors of the High Street buildiing where local people have transacted their Post Office business since 1886 will be closed to the public until some other use is found for the premises.
It was in the summer of 1939 that the first plan for a new post office on the new site was made public. At that time the cost was estimated at £15,000 but the war interfered with the proposal. The cost of the present building is in the region of £60,000.
The ceremony at the new office will begin with a welcome by the Head Postmaster, Mr R C Cooper, who will then invite the Mayor, Mr A C Hooper, to speak on behalf of Bideford.
Something of the history of the High Street building may well be given by Mr F E Whiting, for he has been Warden of Bideford Long Bridge Trust, who own it, for over 30 years. More than 73 years ago the Trust erected the premises specifically for use as a Post Office.
Mr Whiting will be followed by the Lord Lieutenant, who will officially declare the new building open, and then the Head Postmaster will conduct the Mayor to the counter for him to make the first purchase.
A vote of thanks will be proposed by Mr L G Semple, regional director of the GPO, SW Region, and after a tour of the new office, guests will be entertained to tea.
Reaction of the general public to the move may be mixed, for the existing premises, with all their faults, have a great redeeming feature is that they are central. But whatever the public think of the move they cannot but be impressed by the new building, and there is no doubt that the transfer will be welcomed by staff, from the Head Postmaster downwards.
Even though the High Street office was designed as a Post Office, growth of business over the years has meant that conditions have deteriorated. 'Dark and stuffy' was how one employee described them to a Gazette reporter who was shown over the building. He might well have added 'and cramped' for some of the individual offices, with their mesh protected windows, almost resemble rabbit hutches.
One thing is certain, however. The clock that has been a familiar local feature for so long, will remain. That belongs not to the Post Office but to the Trust. It has proved and, to a lesser degree, still is, a 'headache.' The original mechanism was, again to quote Mr Whiting, 'a Heath Robinson contraption, with rods and cogs through the floor.' At the beginning of World War 2 it stopped working and since no-one could tackle the job, Mr Whiting removed the hands. Electrically operated mechanism was then installed and this worked well until power cuts became common, and the many who missed trains and buses because of its erractic behaviour became irate. New clockwork mechanism then displaced the electric and everything has gone well until now. But a new problem has arisen: the difficulty of finding someone to wind the clock.
Read the full article for more information - 3 April 1959