Your typical fire station that is present in every town…read more This service is located in Top Mossley and are operated by Greater Manchester Fire Service. They have around two trucks, which are modern and verrrrry fast! They take part in show and tells at school which I think is great especially to educate the young ones. But to be fair, adults need it too! They participate in local fairs where they bring the trucks and let children play and learn about the controls etc. I think firemen are underrated and in Mossley they are needed as we live in the hills and in hot summer months they have been known to catch fires. So they are our lifesavers.

I am always amazed by the grandeur of civic architecture of the 19th c. Take this lovely vast…read moreterracota building on the corner of London Road. It occupies a triangular space circumscribed by adjacent streets and used to house, believe it or not, the Police and Fire Station. The building was erected between 1904 and 1906, and you can spot some fine architectural and decorative details throughout the facade. It was described as the finest fire station in the world, with which epithet one can hardly disagree.

Did my Fire Service training here, it is indeed a fine example of civic architecture but it's a…read moreshithole inside believe me

Because I'm not a British Citizen or citizen of an EEA Country, we have to go to a designated…read moreoffice, and for us that is Manchester Register Office. It was fairly easy to find, but there isn't much parking, so we ended up finding a parking garage and walking. While the walk wasn't a difficult one, I'm not sure it is one I want to make in my wedding dress... so in that sense it was helpful for us in deciding what we will do on the day. The office is on the first floor and if you are giving notice for marriage or registering a birth, you'll go to the second reception desk (go past the first reception area). It is a very busy office, so you'll want to make sure you get there right on time. I don't know if it helps to be very early as we were on this day, but they were running about 10 minutes late on their appointments. The Receptionist was very friendly, confirmed our appointment, and invited us to take a seat in the waiting area. The waiting area is large, but there isn't a huge amount of seating. There is an enclosed area for mothers feeding children, but in overhearing the couple next to us, there wasn't a microwave to warm up bottles. When we were called back, we went to an office down the hall from the reception area. The lady was very friendly, but because of a recent change in marriage rules by the Home Office, she was still getting used to the new policies and had to keep referring to the guidance to ensure that we were compliant under the new rules. Unfortunately, there were a couple of issues that she needed to consult with her manager about. Turns out that there were two issues with our documents so we couldn't complete giving notice that day. However, they were very friendly, made sure that we knew what we needed, and also helped us book another appointment to give notice. While we were a little annoyed, I have to say that the friendliness and the sense of humor the staff had about the whole thing really helped us gain perspective on the situation and they made a potentially stressful situation less stressful.

I can't fault the staff and service received at Chorlton post office…read more I take my elderly mother in regularly now she struggles to get there herself and I can understand why she likes the branch so much. I must make particular reference to Dawn, who has the patience of a saint and never fails to give service with a smile.

I used to dread going into this place. It was always packed no matter what time of day it was, and…read morein my experience the staff were incredibly inefficient in dealing with routine queries. I went in there to post a package to Germany. For some reason the man behind the counter found this fact hilarious and proceeded to talk to his colleague in his native language for a good couple of minutes whilst gesturing at me. The staff seemed more focussed on selling the disco balls and ghastly home decorations and assorted electrical goods available in their 'shop' which took over half the post office than they did in serving customers. Goodbye and good riddance lousy old post office. Hello and welcome to new posh post office complete with electronic 'cashier number three pleeeease' system, friendly and efficient staff and a small shop which sells useful things such as jiffy bags and sellotape. Just how a post office should be. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't make a special trip to this post office if it wasn't just at the end of my road, but it is soooo much better than the old post office.

Never have I had worse service than at this post office. All the staff were rude and disrespect…read more Their equipment in their premises is not working. I used the equipment without knowing this because there was no sign to say it was out of order. the machine took my money, and when I went to explain this to the staff, they started huffing and puffing and acting like it was my fault. One of ladies (staff) started shouting at me and making threatening comments. Absolutely horrified that people are allowed to work in yhe service industry. Disgusted that no action will be taken against the individual who treated us with such rudeness and disrespect.

Located on the busy Stockport Road, this post office looks tired and old. There are some tattered…read moreflags hanging on rusty flagpoles outside, and the sign is faded. Inside things are perfectly clean and orderly, in fact it betrays the impression its exterior gave me. I absolutely love it when post offices combine being a post office with selling odd little items too, some of which have nothing to do with post or stationary. Stockport Road Post Office is a prime example for this. Here, not only can you post a parcel, but you can also buy confectionary, insoles for your shoes, cigarettes behind the counter and Daz washing powder. Excellent. The staff are pleasant and well-presented and the queue moves quickly so that despite the lack of those self-service machines which I love so much, I'm sending my parcel within just a few minutes of walking in.

Crown Post Offices are a dying breed now - it seems almost every Post Office is now becoming a…read moresmall kiosk in a newsagents or similar style store, this is one of the few good remaining Post Offices remaining. This is a large branch, on Spring Gardens which is just off Market Street. It has a ticketed queuing approach, where you get a ticket and wait for them to call your number, I much prefer this to the standard queuing as it means you can sit down, relax without squabbling over your place in the queue. There is also a good number of self-service postage machines (These are great but not ideal as they don't include all services such as if the postage is pre-paid). The staff here are pretty friendly and service is quick enough, this is a huge benefit over the smaller Post Offices around the city centre located in Manchester Souvenirs and News stores, as it can be hit and miss whether you get served quickly or not - the staff always seem to take more care at this location too. It can be cheaper to pre-pay your postage online depending on the service being used. I don't understand the logic behind this, especially if you have to visit a Post Office anyway to post the parcel and/or generate proof of posting. 4* - A very good Post Office location, yet working on transparency between pricing through all payment methods and adding services to the self-service postage machines to make it quicker, and confusion-free would be a huge improvement again.

Hell hath no fury like central Manchester in the office lunch hour. I despair, I really do. And…read moreoften I found myself here having to post things off while I was working at Spinningfields, so once I'd jostled through the crowds the last thing I wanted was apocalyptic queues whilst standing like a lemon with my parcel. Thankfully, this is a particularly large post office. It sells what you'd expect - envelopes, stationery, stamps, the works, but with a great many kiosks it means you're never waiting a ludicrously long time to get rid of your items. The staff are helpful too, I was talked through the ins and outs of how many stamps I should put on a card to enable it to reach Fuerteventura, for instance. Its location just next to the Tesco Metro makes it a very handy stopping off point if you happen to be in town. I worked this out when I had to head here today to post off a box and a letter, both recorded delivery. I'm around a mile from a Post Office, no matter what direction I walk in. The shop opposite my apartment building closed down a long time ago, and now I'm at the mercy of Mocha Parade (gimme me flamin' giro), Soviet, sorry, Salford Precinct (Gorky Park) and this. This is my default. I'd like to take a moment to announce that I'm a dumbass as well. Ticket systems? Lost on me. I become like a doddering old grandmother that's been handed an iPod for the first time. Don't worry, this happens at cheese counters and in hospital queues too. Small ballots of paper bewilder me. Anyway, I realised that I shouldn't have sauntered past the friendly-looking bloke stood next to the ominous looking machine. And the lady who handled my parcels was super friendly. It's quick and easy. Worth a visit if you're parcel-sending this Christmas. Although by now you're probably too late... sorry, there was no need for that. I reckon you are though. Okay, I promise, I'll stop now.

Due to the nature of one of my jobs I spend a disproportionate amount of time in post offices. I'm…read moresomething of a connoisseur posting things wise and I really do appreciate a good post office. My current favourite is the central Manchester branch because of those joyful self-service machines for letters and packets. Obviously I appreciate that not all post offices can be like this. North Levenshulme Post Office is dead small which is perfectly ok, but seems to be in disarray. It's kind of one of those shops that's half a shop and half a post office, and everything in here seemed to be a bit of a mess. Like they were in the middle of totally rearranging the shop or something. Only I'm not sure they were. Oddly enough, they had zebra print handbags for sale in here. No joke. But as a post office it works just fine, with two windows at the back of the shop. It's a post office. Does what it says on the tin.

I have been going to this post office for a few years now and I love the opening hours on a…read moreSaturday now - 5:30pm!! Although, today (11/10/2014) I didn't have such a good experience. I walked in and noticed I had a couple people waiting in the queue in front of me... The lady behind the desk was on her phone chatting to her friend... Maybe family whilst serving customers! Rude?! When it got to me, I had a few things to post so it's a good thing she ended the call (not sure if it was ended or just put it down until I'd gone). I asked for the items to me posted 2nd class recorded delivery. So she scans them all, and I have a feeling she hasn't put the recorded delivery stickers on, just stamps. So I ask... Are they recorded? No, she says! She hadn't heard me when I had told her the first time because she was on the bloody phone!!! Which then meant having to add on extra stickers/change prices to my items.