THE West Swindon Post Office closes today.

The branch inside the Asda superstore seemed to already be cleared out yesterday, with most of the signs taken down.

News of the closure first broke in November and was called “a disaster” by people in the area, who spoke of its importance to the community - particularly for elderly neighbours.

The Post Office is looking for a new retailer to incorporate a branch into its business after its previous retail partner for the branch, Martin McColl Ltd resigned and the premises was withdrawn from use.

In a statement on the Post Office website, partner account manager Daniel Rooney said: “The provision of a Post Office service to our customers in the local community is important to us, and we will continue to work hard to restore services in the area as soon as possible.

“The vacancy is advertised on www.runapostoffice.co.uk. We are in talks with one interested party.

“I would like to assure you that we are working hard to keep any period of closure to a minimum and we are currently investigating the options available which will enable us to reinstate a Post Office service to the local community.

“We would like to apologise for the inconvenience the temporary closure may cause. We hope that our customers will continue to use Post Office services.”

After today, customers will have to visit other branches, such as the Toothill one on Dunwich Drive, the Freshbrook village centre’s Tesco, the Shaw site on Ramleaze Drive, or the Royal Mail Sorting Office on Westmead Industrial Estate, to use the same services.

The Toothill branch’s opening hours are 9am to 11pm Monday to Wednesday and 9am to 2pm Thursday to Sunday.

Freshbrook’s is open from 9am to 5.30pm on weekdays, 9am to 12.30pm on Sundays, and closed on Saturday.