Pleas to Royal Mail from residents facing long walk to post letters

THE owner of a new Highgate juice bar has angered neighbours by telling Royal Mail to remove a postbox from his land.
On Monday Royal Mail sealed the postbox outside the former post office at the junction of Swain’s Lane and Highgate West Hill.
Resident John Light, who lives in St Albans Villas, said: “There’s total chagrin and rage here.
“The veterans around here are really pee’d off. Now they’ve got to walk up Highgate West Hill to get to the next nearest box. What we’re really angry about is the pre-Christmas closing.”
Labour councillor Roger Robinson, who lives in Highgate West Hill, has insisted that Royal Mail re-sites the postbox nearby.
His neighbour, Angela Webster, pointed out that the postbox further up the hill, unlike the one in Swain’s Lane, does not have a Sunday collection.
Businesses in Swain’s Lane are unhappy too. Jack Shorn, owner of Fitzroy’s Estate Agents, said: “Sometimes we post thousands of letters in a day. We’re a small business, and I can’t afford to lock this place up just to go and post letters.”
Royal Mail spokesman Nick Martins said that, as the postbox was on the juice bar owner’s land, his wishes had to be respected.
He added: “He initially asked us to pay rent on it, which we couldn’t do. It’s a heavily used box so we definitely want to relocate it, but that takes time.
“We are meeting the landlord to see if we can come up with a temporary solution. He’ll probably say no. He just doesn’t want non-customers to be on his land.”
The New Journal was unable to contact the owner of the juice bar, which has not yet opened.