THORNHILL Library will temporarily house the village’s Post Office from next month.
The existing branch operating in SPAR is due to shut permanently on August 12 following a decision by the convenience chain’s operator, CJ Lang, to discontinue the in-store postal and banking services.
However, it was announced this week by the Post Office that until a new ‘permanent alternative’ is found, the counter will move to the village library on Townhead Street from Monday, August 16.
The opening hours will be Monday and Wednesday: 11 am – 2 pm.
Steven Simpson, Post Office Network provision lead, said: “We are pleased to be maintaining Post Office services to Thornhill as we know how important a Post Office is to a community.
“We thank Dumfries and Galloway Council for providing the library premises and for the postmaster for Galloway for agreeing to run this temporary service. We continue to look for a permanent solution.”
Dumfriesshire MP and MSP, David and Oliver Mundell, met with Post Office bosses last month in a bid to save the branch, which is just one of four in Dumfriesshire closing by mid-September.
The pair have welcomed the news, but stressed there is still work to be done to protect the region’s threatened branches.
Oliver Mundell said: “With so many Post Offices under threat of closure, and particularly so in smaller towns and more rural communities, this commitment to maintaining access to services in Thornhill while a more long-term way forward is found will, I know, be appreciated by local residents.
“I will continue to make representations to the Post Office not just about the Thornhill PO, but also those other local branches in Eastriggs, Gretna and Georgetown which are currently under threat.”
David Mundell called it a “positive development and one I am pleased to welcome”.
He added: “It will ensure that Thornhill residents continue to have access to Post Office services within the town following the temporary closure on 12 August, and I am glad that the concerns of local people have been listened to on this occasion.
“The campaign to secure the future of other local Post Office branches will of course continue.”
