Into the Grove

West London customer service point (CSP) colleagues are enjoying their new home following their recent move from Queensway to a new, purpose-built standalone site in Westbourne Grove.

There has been a CSP within the branch Post Office in Queensway, Paddington, for the past 10 years serving customers in the Paddington W2 and Notting Hill W11 postcodes. The CSP is a standalone unit, as the delivery offices are based in Premier Park, approximately six miles away.

The site was officially opened by Shiona Rolfe, service delivery director, South, on Monday 28 October alongside West London MPU manager, Shawn St-Clair, deployment manager, Paul Hodnett and postman and West London CWU area safety rep, Hugo Carvalho.

‘It was a great pleasure to formally open our brand new CSP in Westbourne Grove,’ said Shiona. ‘Our CSPs are often the single point of contact for our customers and so represent an important part of our overall customer experience and Royal Mail brand.

‘Not only is this a great new facility for our customers, but I’m confident it will also be a great place to work.’

Paul Hodnett said: ‘Initial feedback from both the team and customers has been really good so far. The new site is a fantastic advert for Royal Mail. It’s in a great location and only 250 metres from the old site.

‘I’ve really enjoyed working closely with the team on site to ensure they felt part of the process. Together, they have helped me create a great working environment where everyone feels comfortable. The introduction of a screen-less environment is proving to be a big hit with staff and customers.

‘The site gives us a really prominent position in the community and will ensure customers in the Paddington and Notting Hill postcodes get the best service available.’

OPG Zoe Umansky, said: ‘The new site is so much better than our previous building in Queensway as we had to share space, including the toilets and welfare area with the Post Office staff. It was quite dirty before and there was hardly any space to work in a safe manner. We were forever tripping over each other.

‘I didn’t really like taking my break in the old building as the welfare area wasn’t very nice. We now have a large area for storing parcels and plenty of space to work in safely. The new downstairs welfare area is lovely and clean and a really nice place to relax in on our breaks.

‘The screen-less counter is new for us, but so far, the reaction from our customers has been really positive. Everyone seems so much more friendly now that the old screen has been removed.’