Old Post Office

In the 19th century, as Brentwood grew, a number of shops were used as small post offices. The main Brentwood post office was at a shop at 111 High Street, with a smaller one in a shop at the juncton of Kings Road and Queens Road. It was clear that the town needed a dedicated post office and in 1890 a site was selected that had previosly nursery gardens on the High Street, next to St Thomas Road. Plans were drawn up for the new building by a well known local architect, Arthur Woods, and the building was built 1891-2.

The new building was an impressive work of Victorian architecture and distinctly different to other buildings in Brentwood at the time - built in brick with a stone ground floor facing the High Street and two stone pilars rising up either side, terminating in a high Dutch gable. The building was opened in June 1892.

By the 1930s the post office had outgrown the building and plans were made for the much larger post office building that still stands today (although no longer used as a post office). A temporary post office was built further down St Thomas Road, which is still in use as part of the sorting offices, and the old post office was demolished in 1938.