Bungay's Post Office is to move to a new location in a convenience store to provide a permanent service for the town.

The new site will open at Bungay Shopper, in St Mary's Street, from 1pm on Friday, April 1.

A temporary Post Office has been operating from the foyer of Bungay Town Hall since January 2021 after the previous site at St Mary's Street closed in December 2020, when the McColls store it was based in shut.

The temporary Post Office will continue to operate until 5pm on Tuesday, March 29.

Post Office network provision lead Wendy Hamilton said: "We are delighted to have a permanent new Post Office for Bungay as we know how important a Post Office is to a community.

"We want to sincerely thank Bungay Town Council for providing a temporary solution at their offices to provide a Post Office in the centre of Bungay.

"We know that this community will welcome this news of a permanent replacement Post Office."

This move provides Bungay locals with an extra 17.5 hours of Post Office services, the company said.

Waveney MP Peter Aldous hailed the efforts of the town council in helping to keep the Post Office in the town.

He said: "Bungay has been without a permanent Post Office for too long.

"It was difficult to find the right premises and go through the due diligence before opening, but it is very good news it is now ready to open.

"Special thanks must go to the town council for hosting the temporary facility in the interim period and I am very grateful to everyone involved for making this happen."

Mayor of Bungay John Adams said: "This is really good news for the town.

"It was a great loss when the old branch closed and luckily the town council owned the town hall by then and were able to negotiate to put the temporary facility there, and we have been working with the Post Office since to try and find a permanent solution.

"Peter Aldous must get a lot of credit for helping to assure the Post Office of the need for a permanent branch in Bungay.

The new site will have two Post Office counters, with the main counter open between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Friday.

It will also open on Saturdays between 9am to 1pm.

There will also be a Post Office counter next to the retail counter Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm.