LUDGERSHALL will not be losing its post office after all - but it will be moving home.

When Ludgershall's new post office opens its doors next to Allan Gardner's butchers shop in the centre of the village on 6 January it will be the third location for the post office in the past decade.

The new postmistress will be Mrs Sue Gardner who is already well known in the village as a shopkeeper.

The move back to the High Street, not far from the original position of the post office, will help shift the economic focus back to the village's historic centre where a number of new shops are nearing completion on the former E E Roy site.

"We thought it was very important to keep the post office in the village as so many people here rely on it and we are pleased that we have been able to help," said Mr Gardner, who has an inter-national reputation as a sausage maker.

The post office came under threat when Tesco took control of the One Stop chain of shops and announced that post offices didn't fit in with the company's plans.

Mr and Mrs Gardner announced they had secured the agreement of the authorities to take over the postal service at a meeting of the Ludgershall community forum on Tuesday evening.

Ludgershall councillor Ken Beard said: "We have always considered the High Street to be the centre of the village.

For the full story see Friday's Andover Advertiser