BEDFORD POST OFFICE
Dame Alice Street
Photograph © Rich Tea via Geograph and licensed for re-use under a Creative Commons licence
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Architect: Henry Tanner
Year 1899 (1924 alterations and telephone exchange, architect David Dyke) Listed building status: Locally listed Archive sources National Archives: WORK 13/873; 30/6189-6192 Selected bibliographical references Bedfordshire Advertiser 23 Jun 1899, p. 7 (inconvenient location) Bedfordshire Times and Independent 2 Jun 1899, p. 7 (strong criticism of the building) History Closed Current use: Club ("Bedford Central Club") The post office was previously located at 77 High Street and opened in 1878. |
Building description
From: Bedfordshire Times and Independent 2 Jun 1899, p. 7
A reader writes:
Sir,—After the large outlay upon the site and buildings of our new Head Office it was entirely not unreasonable to expect some improvement upon the old one, but on my first visit I notice several features which form an unfavourable contrast. Before entering I observe that instead of the place for posting being sheltered by vestibule, which with so much space (now half wasted) might easily have been contrived, letter bearers have to jostle against one another on a narrow pavement, made still more incommodious by a gigantic lamp-pillar blocking it up, while the lamp might with advantage have been suspended from the building just above the door, and if several arrive together, most frequently happen, one has to wait for another in the rain or snow, because in place of two separate and capacious openings, as in the old offices, there is only one small aperture for everything ; and this cannot be altered without cutting the stone front to pieces and spoiling it. Then you mount the steep, narrow, and dangerous steps, the only excuse for which, I am told, is to "keep out bicycles"; but this is the ordinary official way of consulting the convenience of the public, who their custom, speak, support the Post Office, and many of them will probably find (as I have myself discovered) that they pay considerably more for postage and telegrams than they for income-tax. If the bicycles are be thus unceremoniously excluded, this could have been effected by a simple notice. But why should they be excluded at all? The vestibule above suggested would have afforded ample accommodation for them, and even now a suitable shelter could be erected on the vacant space at the side of the office. The entrance is much too cramped and the doorway inconveniently narrow; and you have no sooner taken your place at the counter that you discover that the said entrance is ingeniously contrived to admit the north wind, soon as the door is opened, in fall force, cutting through the whole of the interior and causing both customers and clerks to invoke a malediction upon the perpetrator of this new horror for in the old office the lobby opening to the west sheltered the inner door from the north wind. You next perceive that you are standing on a tiled floor. Whether this extends behind the counter I have not yet ascertained, but it is bad enough outside, as will speedily be experienced by females with thin shoes in cold and wet weather, and also by the clerks who are perpetually disturbed by the clatter of people passing and fro. Surely oak blocks would be much better in every way and more in keeping with rest of the fitting up. But as soon you proceed to business you find that the counter is inconveniently wide for easy communication with the clerks, especially behind the brass network, while the space beyond is much confined, and the whole office does not appear larger than the old one. The light admitted through the window, which would in any case be barely sufficient for a north aspect, is broken by heavy mullions which cast a dark shadow across the counter. Now all these defects are apparent at first sight, and in one room only. It may be fairly presumed that similar objections could be taken in every other department, and the question arises who is to blame? In ordinary cases you would say the architect : and this architect may be supposed to have designed other Post Offices, though he may not have taken the trouble to inquire whether they were models of perfection or not. If the average architect usually provides plenty of blunders for his client to set right, in case he detects them in time, the big professional will no doubt make bigger blunders; but here, I informed, he had to deal first with Surveyor no, 1, and when the work was well forward Surveyor no. 2 appeared on the scene anxious of course, as far as practicable, to rectify the mistakes of his predecessor. However this may have been, now have before us the grand result; and the Bedford public are furnished by Government officials with an object lesson which they will have abundant opportunities of studying "How not to do it.”
From: Bedfordshire Times and Independent 2 Jun 1899, p. 7
A reader writes:
Sir,—After the large outlay upon the site and buildings of our new Head Office it was entirely not unreasonable to expect some improvement upon the old one, but on my first visit I notice several features which form an unfavourable contrast. Before entering I observe that instead of the place for posting being sheltered by vestibule, which with so much space (now half wasted) might easily have been contrived, letter bearers have to jostle against one another on a narrow pavement, made still more incommodious by a gigantic lamp-pillar blocking it up, while the lamp might with advantage have been suspended from the building just above the door, and if several arrive together, most frequently happen, one has to wait for another in the rain or snow, because in place of two separate and capacious openings, as in the old offices, there is only one small aperture for everything ; and this cannot be altered without cutting the stone front to pieces and spoiling it. Then you mount the steep, narrow, and dangerous steps, the only excuse for which, I am told, is to "keep out bicycles"; but this is the ordinary official way of consulting the convenience of the public, who their custom, speak, support the Post Office, and many of them will probably find (as I have myself discovered) that they pay considerably more for postage and telegrams than they for income-tax. If the bicycles are be thus unceremoniously excluded, this could have been effected by a simple notice. But why should they be excluded at all? The vestibule above suggested would have afforded ample accommodation for them, and even now a suitable shelter could be erected on the vacant space at the side of the office. The entrance is much too cramped and the doorway inconveniently narrow; and you have no sooner taken your place at the counter that you discover that the said entrance is ingeniously contrived to admit the north wind, soon as the door is opened, in fall force, cutting through the whole of the interior and causing both customers and clerks to invoke a malediction upon the perpetrator of this new horror for in the old office the lobby opening to the west sheltered the inner door from the north wind. You next perceive that you are standing on a tiled floor. Whether this extends behind the counter I have not yet ascertained, but it is bad enough outside, as will speedily be experienced by females with thin shoes in cold and wet weather, and also by the clerks who are perpetually disturbed by the clatter of people passing and fro. Surely oak blocks would be much better in every way and more in keeping with rest of the fitting up. But as soon you proceed to business you find that the counter is inconveniently wide for easy communication with the clerks, especially behind the brass network, while the space beyond is much confined, and the whole office does not appear larger than the old one. The light admitted through the window, which would in any case be barely sufficient for a north aspect, is broken by heavy mullions which cast a dark shadow across the counter. Now all these defects are apparent at first sight, and in one room only. It may be fairly presumed that similar objections could be taken in every other department, and the question arises who is to blame? In ordinary cases you would say the architect : and this architect may be supposed to have designed other Post Offices, though he may not have taken the trouble to inquire whether they were models of perfection or not. If the average architect usually provides plenty of blunders for his client to set right, in case he detects them in time, the big professional will no doubt make bigger blunders; but here, I informed, he had to deal first with Surveyor no, 1, and when the work was well forward Surveyor no. 2 appeared on the scene anxious of course, as far as practicable, to rectify the mistakes of his predecessor. However this may have been, now have before us the grand result; and the Bedford public are furnished by Government officials with an object lesson which they will have abundant opportunities of studying "How not to do it.”
