Town's post office to remain open as a franchise

Richard Fleetwood of RF Retail will run Oswestry's Willow Street Post Office as a franchise

A town's Post Office will remain open and offer the same services, at least until the end of the current financial year.

A campaign to save the Willow Street branch in Oswestry, Shropshire, was launched when the Post Office announced last year it was one of 115 at risk of closure.

It was led by the MP for North Shropshire, Helen Morgan, who said common sense had prevailed.

The Post Office said it is transferring all of its remaining directly managed "Crown Post Offices" to franchisees, and the Oswestry branch will be one of five run by RF Retail.

More than 3,000 people signed a petition organised by Ms Morgan who said: "I have no doubt that this pressure has helped to keep the Post Office open."

The Lib Dem MP also said she would be "monitoring the situation closely to ensure that no services or hours are lost from Oswestry town centre".

A decision has yet to be made about the long-term location of the branch, which may move to a different site in the town centre from April next year.

The Post Office, which announced in April it wanted to move to a "fully franchised network", said it it was still seeking partners to run more than 100 other Crown Post Offices around the country.