13774/1MAYOR of Devizes Margaret Taylor has invited a representative of supermarket giant Tesco to come and explain why it is closing the sub post office at its store in Eastleigh Road.

Mrs Taylor has taken it upon herself to spearhead local opposition to the move, which Tesco says is necessary because there is no room in the shop for a post office as well as the new range of wares it intends to sell.

She took up the cudgels at the recent protest meeting at the Wyvern Club in Church Walk, when many town councillors and members of local groups voiced their opposition to the closure.

Mrs Taylor wrote to Tesco's managing director on July 27, saying: "There is great concern in Devizes about this proposal, especially from the elderly, young mothers and people without transport.

"They have voiced their concern to the town council and are petitioning for the retention of the service. There is also considerable housing expansion in this area. The closure would affect the central post office facility because many more hundreds of people would need to use it and cause great pressure on the central service.

"It would also result in much more travelling in an already congested town centre."

Mrs Taylor received a reply from Pauline Brogan, an executive at Tesco's customer service centre in Dundee, who explained that Tesco purchased the chain of 900 T&S convenience stores, including One Stop, two years ago and is in the process of converting them into Tesco Express mini supermarkets.

She said: "Around 300 of our T&S stores currently have post offices in them. We understand the important role that the post office plays for many of our customers. We therefore seek to retain post offices in our stores wherever we can. We have managed to achieve this in more than 250 of these stores."

But a few, like the Eastleigh Road store, run up against a problem of space and there is no room to expand and the service that has to go is the post office as it is less profitable than selling groceries.

Ms Brogan wrote: "I am afraid that the Eastleigh Road store is one such case. We are nonetheless committed to doing all we can to ensure that the community of Devizes benefits both from the great new Tesco Express and a local post office.

"We will therefore be active in seeking to relocate the post office nearby."

But, as the Wyvern Club meeting heard, that is not proving so simple. Two local business people who expressed an interest in opening a sub post office in their premises were horrified to learn from the Post Office how expensive it would be to set up shop and to employ the members of staff whose jobs have been guaranteed.

Nevertheless, Mrs Taylor is prepared to take Tesco's words at face value.

She sent a reply to Ms Brogan last Thursday, which said: "I am pleased that Tesco understands the importance to the community of a post office service and is committed to doing all you can to ensure a service will continue in the Eastleigh Road area.

"I hope from the sentiments expressed in your letter you will write to me to confirm that Tesco will continue the service until it can be relocated and we invite a spokesman to one of our meetings."

So far, the town council has received no indication whether a Tesco representative will attend a town council meeting on August 17 or 31, the two dates that Mrs Taylor suggested.