BRIGHTON was for many years proud to be a postal town where hundreds of people earned a living working with the mail.

Sir Rowland Hill, inventor of the penny post, had strong connections with the town and for many years Brighton had its own postmaster.

Its first Labour MP, Dennis Hobden, was a postal worker and Tom Jackson, splendidly moustachioed secretary of the union, lived a long time in Hove.

Brighton became the south east regional centre for the Post Office and it was one of the biggest employers in the resort. Thanks partly to American Express, Brighton also became the main generator of mail in the south east outside London.

The postal system worked well in Brighton and in most of the country. You could generally rely on a letter posted one day arriving the next.

Indeed in Edwardian times it was possible to put a postcard in a pillar box and have it delivered locally the same day.

There were people like me who did not have bank accounts. We were customers at the imposing main post offices such as the one in Ship Street, Brighton. But gradually the postal service declined. The introduction of first and second class services did not benefit customers. The Brighton sorting office moved to Gatwick.

Charges for stamps rocketed and became needlessly complicated with the introduction of new charges for large letters. The last post effectively became the first post with final collections being made early in the morning. And all too often customers were told to collect letters from sorting offices when in the past they would have been delivered.

The Post Office let banks take over many of their services and lost further trade when pensions were no longer collected in person.

Post offices began to close including the well-loved headquarters in Brighton. The office is now hidden in the basement of WH Smith in Churchill Square.

A few years ago, there was a so-called consultation exercise over closing large numbers of sub post offices. The exercise in Brighton and Hove was a total sham with not one outlet being saved.

Now there is another closure proposed in Western Road, Hove, where many people in the Brunswick area find the outlet convenient.

Using typically weasel words, the Post Office says it intends to merge Western Road with the office in Melville Road, Hov,e near the Seven Dials. For merge read close.

Someone called Roger Gale for the Post Office says the number of customers at Western Road has declined in recent years. This is a surprise to users who nearly always find it busy.

Mr Gale says Western Road is not commercially viable and that it should be merged with Melville Road in January. This time the Post Office faces a real battle. More than 2,000 people have already signed a petition against the closure.

The campaign is being organised by Paul and Inge Sweetman who run City Books next door. Local councillors have joined it along with Hove’s new MP Peter Kyle. A public meeting is being arranged.

Paul Sweetman says closure is bad news for residents who face a hilly walk to Melville Road or else a ride in two buses.

Businesses will also be affected in the Brunswick area as many rely on the branch for essential services. It also attracts people to the area. The Sweetmans say there are queues in the branch throughout the day although it is said to be not busy enough. It serves an area with about 40,000 people.

Paul Sweetman says: “I think we have a very good chance of winning this” and if he loses it will not be for want of trying.

Bearing in mind what happened in the last consultation I am not so sure. The Post Office no longer seems in touch with the people it purports to serve. The closure of crown or main post offices seems to be continuing without regard to public opinion as evidenced by the closure of the outlet in Hove near the town hall.

Looking around the area, Shoreham is one of the few towns I know which is still lucky enough to possess one, Pots offices are a vital part of the community. Even though the nature of business has changed there is still plenty of it. Although people do not write letters to each other so much in this electronic age, there is still a brisk and booming trade in goods from retailers such as Amazon.

The Post Office should expand the service at Western Road rather than close it. This will be a real test of its intentions. If the closure goes ahead, Brighton and Hove will have lost another chunk of a service which used to be one of the best in Britain.