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In 1799 Joseph Raynor was appointed the first postmaster in Nottingham and he had his post office on High Street. The post office didn't provide enough business as a full-time occupation so Raynor also ran a seedsman's business in his spare time.
In Spring 1831 the old post office building was pulled down[2] and the post office moved to a new building[3] in Armitage Place on the other side of High Street. Trade had increased and the office employed four people.
In 1834 the Post Office moved again, this time to Bridlesmith Gate.
The new Post Office on Albert Street from the Illustrated London News 6 November 1847
On 14 October 1847 the foundation stone for a new post office was laid on the same site by the Mayor of Nottingham, William Cripps Esq.[4] Construction took longer than expected. In May 1848 it was reported that a hundredweight of lead was stolen from the construction site.[5] The new building was designed by the architect and surveyor to the Corporation of Nottingham, Henry Moses Wood[6]
Postal business was transacted here until December 1868.
The former Central Post Office building on Victoria Street
In 1868 the Central Post Office moved into a new building at the top of Victoria Street.[7] The building had been designed by James Williams of the Board of Works.[8] It was designed as a Post Office, Telegraphic Office and Inland Revenue office.
The building was raised in 1883[9] by the architect Edward G. Rivers with the addition of a further floor.[8]
On 2 August 1884 three packages of explosives was discovered at the post office. This was confirmed by Colonel Vivian Dering Majendie, the Chief Inspector of Explosives, and the packages were removed and destroyed without any damage to the building.[10]
In June 1894 construction started on a new post office in Queen Street.[11] It was built in Ashlar in the Renaissance Revival Style. The contractors were T. Fish and Sons of Hermitage Mills, Hermit Street, Sneinton and the architect Henry Tanner of the Office of Works.[1] Without any formal ceremony it opened for business on 1 August 1898.[12]
In 1970 it was decided to move into a much smaller building which was to occupy a quarter of the existing post office site, and part of the existing building was demolished for its construction.
The rest of the building continued as the central post office until 1972. It then lay empty for 11 years until a £750,000 grant (equivalent to £3,196,500 in 2023).[13] was made available in 1983 for restoration of the building.[14]
On 4 April 1972 the Post Office moved into the new building just to the north of the existing office which had been constructed at a cost of £300,000.[15]
Post Office business was transacted at the new Queen Street office until 2019 when it moved into W.H. Smith in the Victoria Centre.[16]
In 1845 the Postmaster was responsible for the delivery of 1,238,692 mail items. By 1847 this had grown to 1,589,212.[17] In 1873 the Postmaster oversaw the work of 30 letter carriers, 30 clerks and seven town receiving offices processing 6,760,000 mail items per year. By 1885[18] the number of people employed at the Central Post Office was 246 which included a postmaster, chief clerk, telegraphists, post-office clerks (70), stampers, sorters, letter carriers (110) and messengers, processing 14,040,000 mail items per year. The number of receiving offices was now 27.
