New measures delivered by Royal Mail will see final postal collections brought forward by up to two hours within a three-mile radius of Shrewsbury town centre.

The new times, which came into effect this week, apply to a total of 94 postboxes in the SY1 to SY3 postcode areas.

Thousands of people, including town centre residents and traders, will be affected by the collection times which have been brought forward from 7.30pm to either 5.30pm or 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.

Royal Mail bosses say the changes will help it reach its next-day delivery targets.

But Tony Bukhari, of Howard Shah Solicitors in St John’s Hill, said the changes would be a disruption to business.

He said: “We put a lot of post out at the end of the day. It’s usually the last job we do. If we are busy we just won’t be able to get out in time for the 5.30pm collection and we will have to rethink our postal deliveries.

“These new measures are nonsense. It comes at time when we are trying to get the economy kick started again and this will only slow down trade.”

Notices advising customers of the changes have been pasted onto post boxes, stating 7.30pm collections would only be made at the Shrewsbury Mail Centre in Castle Foregate and a number of town centre boxes.

Affected areas include Sundorne, Harlescott, Monkmoor, Sutton Farm, Abbey Foregate, London Road, Copthorne, The Mount, Bayston Hill, Radbrook, Gains Park, Belle Vue and Meole.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “These changes were made to improve efficiency and quality of service for our customers in the competitive market in which we now operate, and to ensure all mail enters our system in time to achieve next-day delivery.

“Notices were placed on the affected boxes at least two weeks in advance advising customers of the changes, which are within the final collection time specification agreed with our regulator Postcomm.

He added later collections are still made from the post box at the Shrewsbury Mail Centre in Castle Foregate.