A NEW Post Office is set to open in the Brighton Hill area of Basingstoke in July.

As previously reported by The Gazette, the decision was taken by the company to open a sub-post office in the area after it carried out a consultation with residents in Brighton Hill in November and December.

The area has been left without a post office facility for nearly six years following the closure of the Brighton Hill Centre branch in June 2008.

The new Post Office Local store, which will be located at the One Stop convenience store, in Stanford Road will open on July 11 and it will be open between 6am and 11pm, Monday to Friday and 7am and 11pm, on Saturday and Sunday.

Post Office Local is a new concept for delivering Post Office services to residents, and the new branch will deliver Post Office products and services, including automated bill payments, postal orders and a travel money pre-order scheme, from an open-plan counter during opening hours.

Julia Marwood, Post Office regional network manager for the south, said: “We understand how important having a post office is to residents in this area of Basingstoke, and we are confident this new modern post office will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future.

“The modernisation is part of a major investment programme to convert the post office network to new-style branches and this investment, the largest in the history of the post office, makes a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.”

The new store is part of a nationwide investment programme that will see up to 8,000 branches modernised and an additional investment in over 3,000 community and outreach branches.