I don't quite understand why all the TOCs are not following Avanti's lead and closing all their ticket offices. If they aren't needed at London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly, they aren't needed anywhere.
@A0wen and
@Tazi Hupefi have clearly explained repeatedly that ticket offices are obsolescent, along with TVMs in due course. The Luddites on this site and elsewhere will just have to adapt. The decision has clearly been made in principle by the DfT, and the arguments are surely just about the transition, which I accept is abrupt, but unfortunately since Covid the railways have become a financial disaster and rapidly implemented cuts are essential. It isn't a party political issue; evidence from London suggests that Labour will support these proposals, albeit with a few minor caveats for nit-picking purposes.
I write as someone who has never previously purchased railway e-tickets, mainly because of the fear of unreliability of mobile phone reception and the potential adverse consequences of not being able to show an e-ticket immediately on demand to a guard/RPI, but who accepts that this position is no longer tenable going forward. The other reason is that I purchase train tickets (as distinct from tram tickets) much less frequently since I moved to my current residence in 2015, because the local rail service is poor and of limited use.
@jfollows - I did use the Wilmslow ticket office recently (the only occasion that I have used a rail ticket office in the last year) and did find the lady who served me very helpful.
Incidentally, please could someone clarify when/if the ticket office at Altrincham will be closing, or has it already closed (it was open earlier this year). I could not find it on the list of Northern stations with current ticket offices, but the only rail TOC to serve it is Northern Rail. The office has never sold Metrolink tickets, which have to be purchased using the ticket machines on the platforms or by other means.