A NEW but still temporary solution to a town's post office woes has been put in place.

Hay-on-Wye Post Office is to open at Country Supplies in Oxford Road on Wednesday, bosses said.

An interim mobile post office had been operating twice a week since the retirement of long-serving postmaster Steve Like last month. 

The Post Office said it was able to provide an "improved temporary" solution at Country Supplies, while it continued to work towards a permanent solution.

The branch will open at Country Supplies on Wednesday, July 14 at 2pm and be open six days a week from then on.

Opening hours will be Monday to Saturday 9am until 1pm, and also on weekdays from 2pm until 5pm.

But the Post Office said the branch would not be open on Saturday, July 17 due to "one-off staff constraints".

Kati John, Post Office network provision lead, said: “We are delighted to soon be providing post office service for Hay-on-Wye six days a week.

"We thank the post office for Whitney-on-Wye for providing the temporary mobile post office to maintain service to the town upon the retirement of Steve Like, who had been the town’s postmaster for 34 years.”

The most demanded post office products and services will be available at this temporary service, but customers will have to travel to alternative branches for car tax renewal, passport check and send, and other more "complicated" services.

Hay-on-Wye Chamber of Commerce said before the post office closed last month: "We know that there has been much concern in Hay since Steve Like announced that he was retiring and closing Hay post office at the end of June.

"For years Hay post office has provided a key service to businesses and residents in the town and surrounding areas, even more so since the banks closed.

"We would like to thank Steve and his team for their hard work and dedication, especially in the last year, which has been challenging for all of us."

It added: "The idea of Hay without a post office is horrible to think about but this is a very strong promise from Post Office to provide a new site in Hay and to minimise the disruption caused by any gap between the old site closing and the new post office opening.