A Shrewsbury community post office and newsagents has won a last-minute reprieve to stay open for two weeks longer in order to give campaigners time to find alternative premises.

The post office at Stars News in New Park Road, Castlefields, will now close on April 11, with the shop closing the following day.

The post office and shop were originally due to close on March 26 and 29 respectively.

However, county councillor Alan Mosley, who represents the ward, made an appeal to the Midcounties Co-operative to give people more notice.

It was reported today that more than a thousand village shops across the country are facing the threat of closure over rules that will ban them from offering rival services after their own post office sections are shut.

Many village shops rely on business generated by customers coming in to pay bills at the post office counter.

But Post Office bosses said they would only pay full compensation to shop owners affected by closures if they agreed not to offer competing services, such as selling lottery tickets and offering bill payment services for utilities, for a year.

Companies like the Co-op, which took over the Castlefields post office store a year ago but is closing it for financial reasons, have expressed concern.

Mr Mosley said: “They have agreed that the date of closure will be put back another fortnight.

“Clearly it gives people time both to register their concern and to look at whether or not they wish to fight the closure and if the worse comes to the worse, it gives people more time to make alternative arranges for other premises.”