Local retailer appointed as new postmaster for Watton
The former Watton Post Office on the High Street, which closed at the end of May. Picture: Matthew Usher.
Calls are being made for Watton's temporary Post Office visits to be changed to market day, as it emerges a local retailer has been appointed as the new postmaster for the town.
The former Post Office in Watton closed more than four months ago, after its High Street premises were withdrawn for Post Office use at short notice.
A temporary mobile service has been serving the town on Thursdays between 1.30pm and 3.30pm at the library car park.
It has not yet been made public who the new Postmaster is or where the new branch will be based.
A Post Office spokesman said: 'We are pleased to announced that we have appointed a local retailer as the new postmaster for Watton. We will soon be starting a four-week customer engagement about restoring a full-time Post Office to Watton at an existing retailer. More details will be announced in the near future.'
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The news was welcomed by Mayor of Watton Tina Kiddell, who is calling for the mobile service to be changed to a Wednesday in the interim.
She said: 'Older members of our community come in to get their fruit and veg on market days on Wednesday and it would be much better for everybody if the post office could come on those days and to have it in the High Street rather than down at the library.
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'Wednesdays are when people make the effort to come to Watton from outlying district areas. If the Post Office want to keep hold of the business then that's the day it needs to be in the town.
'We have written as a town council to ask them if they could do that and that would be a good compromise until we get one back.
'I'm hoping there will be a new post office coming to the High Street.'
However, a Post Office spokesman said: 'Unfortunately it is not possible for the mobile service to visit Watton on a Wednesday due to the busy existing schedule for the mobile service to visit a number of communities and we are hopeful that there will soon be a permanent Post Office once again in Watton.
'The library was chosen as the safest location for the mobile service as we need a dedicated area where the mobile Post Office can park and we can deploy a ramp if needed for people with a disability or pushchair and to ensure that people are not queuing on or close to the road.'
Alternative branches in the area include Carbrooke, Shipdham, Saham Toney and Thompson.
