The exterior of he building in Broad Street in about 1910

AT the end of June the Post Office in Broad Street celebrated 100 years of business.

After spells of being housed in Bond Street and Halkett Place, the Island’s main post office opened in Broad Street on 21 June 1909.

The managing director of postal business at Jersey Post, Ian Carr, said that when it was set up, and for many years afterwards, the building was home to the entire Post Office. This included the collection, sorting and delivery operations, with bicycles being introduced into the operation in the early part of the century and motorised vehicles being introduced in the 1930s.

To celebrate the centenary, Jersey Post put up a display of photographs showing some of the people who have made up that history. The pictures, courtesy of Jersey Post, also show the building as it was in days gone by, with wooden counters and the sorting room being housed in the same building.

As a result of changes in 1969 which saw the Post Office gain local independence from the UK government, the services being provided began to expand rapidly and in 1971 the organisation separated its operations.

The main counters remained at Broad Street but its collection and delivery operations and administrative functions moved to new headquarters at Mont Millais, where they stayed until 1996, when the new purpose-built Jersey Post headquarters at Rue des Prés was opened.

Mr Carr said that as the years have gone on, the Broad Street office has provided a whole range of services that would not have been foreseen when it first opened and that the new building at Rue des Prés opened with the latest technology for automating the sorting of letters, which could now sort up to 35,000 letters per hour.