Post Office to close 56 branches

Only one branch has been given a reprieve

The Post Office is to close 56 branches in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham.

A further 24 branches will be replaced by outreach outlets.

Towns and villages from Berwick to Crook, via the outskirts of Newcastle and Sunderland, are affected.

Only one branch earmarked for closure - Blackhall Mill in Newcastle - has been give a reprieve following a six-week consultation process.

A proposal to close an alternative branch at the Nisa Supermarket in Walker Road, Newcastle, will now go to a new public consultation.

Post Office Ltd said 99.5% of the area's population would see no changes, or be within a mile of an alternative branch.

Adrian Wales, network development manager north east, said: "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly.

"We believe that the plan announced today offers our customers in this area the best prospect for a sustainable network in the future, bearing in mind the government's minimum access criteria."