Should my shop become flats?

The London Road Shop, a post office for 100 years until last March, is now pioneering as the first acting agent for national overnight courier company, APC.

APC, who charge 4.52 for the delivery of a parcel weighing up to 1 kilogram as opposed to the Post Office's charge of 4.60 for a 100 gram parcel, is now approaching other former post offices to act as agents.

Ismet Khoyratee (pictured), 55, believes there has been a 'loss of the community spirit for all the elderly people' since the Post Office closed. Customers used to be able to sit and chat, now he is lucky to get any customers at all. He said: "We were a centre of the community." A further 3000 post offices around the country are facing the axe.

A pensioner, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: "London Road has changed. It's so much quieter now that the post office has closed." She now has to get a taxi to and from her nearest Post Office, costing her 8. "There's always a big queue when I get there," she said, "and then I'm always confronted by rudeness. It's like they don't even care."

Mr Khoyratee was told by Post Office Limited that they were closing down his franchise because they were losing money. But Mr Khoyratee, unlike Post Office Limited employees who receive holiday pay and sick pay, worked on a commission basis for the company and never received a steady salary. He said: "If we don't get customers, we don't get wages. I don't understand why they had to close us when they weren't paying wages."

The council told him it would fight on his behalf, but for Mr Khoyratee it seemed that "Post Office Limited had already made up their mind." He is now relying on APC and the slow sale of cigarettes, sweets, and stationery.

Last January he applied for a PayPoint license so customers would be able to pay their bills in his shop, but nine months on and he has not heard back from PayPoint.

Weekly stock orders are shrinking, as products remain on the shelves untouched. Mr Khoyratee can no longer afford to buy in bulk.

Come Christmas, when queues will be lengthening at Post Offices nationwide, Mr Khoyratee will be assessing whether it is worth keeping his shop open.

He has not taken a holiday in 15 years. "If I want to go on holiday," he said. "I have to find someone to fill in for me, get them checked by Post Office Limited, and pay their wages." At the moment he has not got the money, and is finding it hard enough as it is to support his family.

If business remains this slow he is considering converting the shop premises into flats.