THE St Andrew's Road Post Office at Bridport will close in October, it was officially announced this week.

The Post Office says that following the period of public consultation the decision to shut the office has been taken as part of changes "designed to safeguard the future of urban post office branches throughout the UK."

In a statement they continued: "Declining customer numbers and falling profitability are driving a national restructuring programme for Post Office branches. Last year, the subpostmaster at St Andrew's Road put this branch forward for possible closure and it is now scheduled to close on October 11. There are other branches nearby."

Dave Barrett, head of commercial urban area Wales and the West said: "Proposals to close branches are not made without considerable research and we asked all subpostmasters what they would like to do.

We then consulted customers, MPs and other community representatives, explaining why we were proposing these changes.

"We are confident that our customers wills till have reasonable access to Post Office services and that this change will improve the long-term prospects of branches in the area."

Residents in the St Andrew's Road area are campaigning to have post office facilities provided at the nearby Co-op supermarket.