More post office branch closures

Outreach services will replace some post office branches

The Post Office has confirmed the closure of a further six branches across Berkshire and Wiltshire.

The announcement follows a further review by the company with the consumer body Postwatch.

Branches at Barkham Road and London Road, Wokingham, and The Obelisk, Warminster, will go. Outreach services will replace three Wiltshire branches.

Last month the Post Office named 33 branches due to shut across the area, starting this month.

The closures were first announced in December as part of wider plans to reduce the number of branches nationally by up to 2,500.

The branches to be replaced by outreach services are those at Avebury in Marlborough, Lacock and Yatton Keynell in Chippenham.

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Tim Nicholls, the Post Office development manager for west Berkshire and Wiltshire, said: "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly.

"We believe that the decisions announced today, along with the amended plan announced in February, offer our customers across the west Berkshire and Wiltshire area the best prospect for a sustainable network in the future."

In a statement, the Post Office said that services in the area will be provided through a network of 234 branches and that 99% of the population will live within a mile of an alternative branch.

The government has said four million fewer people are using the current 14,000-strong network each week than two years ago and cuts are needed as the business has been losing £4m a week.