The Post Office will host a public forum on the proposed relocation of Melksham Post Office in the new year.

The proposed new location for the branch is 6-8 Bank Street, in the old Carpet Barn store, and it has been revealed that the services will be run by Crabb & Andrews Retail.

Crabb & Andrews offer greeting cards, stationery, packaging and confectionery, and currently operate two Post Office branches from within their stores in Bristol.

The Post Office has invited customers and interested parties to give their comments on the move in an ongoing public consultation, which started on November 27, and they will also hold a customer forum at The Kings Arms in the Market Place, on Thursday, January 9.

The forum will function as a drop-in information session, starting at 4.30pm and running until 8.30pm.

The intention of the forum is to inform customers of the details of the proposed Melksham Post Officemove to a new open-plan branch with extended opening hours.

Subject to public consultation, the new Melksham Post Office would have four serving positions and opening hours would be 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, an increase of 14 hours per week.

Melksham Post Office is currently one of around 370 Crown branches directly owned by Post Office Ltd, while the vast majority of Post Office branches - more than 10,000 - are run by third parties within their retail premises.

The Post Office has also confirmed there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the proposed move of the Melksham branch, with options for transfer to the new employer or redeployment in the Post Office.