RESIDENTS and traders in Quarry Bank have reason to celebrate the delivery of some first class news - the town is to get its Post Office back, nearly ten years after it was axed.

Community campaigners were desperate to keep the facility in their long-suffering High Street which also lost its library, bank and estate office.

But despite strenuous efforts to save it - Quarry Bank Post Office was closed.

However - nearly a decade on - the Post Office has confirmed it is to open a brand new facility within the High Street’s Costcutter store.

Among those delighted to hear the news was community stalwart Brian Genner who was chairman of the old Friends of Quarry Bank group which was set up to help boost the town's fortunes and bolster community spirit.

He said: “It’s one big step forward - not only for the residents of Quarry Bank but the people who trade in the High Street where it’s extremely hard-going.”

Mr Genner credits Stourbridge MP Margot James with helping to get the Post Office reinstated and he said: "We have a huge debt of thanks to her."

The Conservative MP, who is Minister for Small Businesses, said: “I am delighted residents in Quarry Bank will soon be able to benefit from a local Post Office in their area. I made a promise that I would do everything I could to see a Post Office in Quarry Bank.”

She said her role as Minister, which includes a responsibility for the Post Office, had obviously helped efforts to bring back the facility to the town but she said it was the “culmination of many years of work with dedicated local campaigners” and she added: “They’ve been brilliant in Quarry Bank at keeping the campaign going since the Post Office closed in 2008. It’s very difficult to get one back and on this occasion we’ve managed and it’s great.”

She said the campaign was helped by a commitment the Conservatives made in their election manifesto to safeguard rural Post Offices which included “a slightly lesser known aspect of that to ensure provision extends to urban areas that have various levels of need and are not being serviced adequately”.

The new Post Office, which is set to open on Thursday November 23, will be open seven days a week from 5.30am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday, and 6am to 8pm on Sunday.

As well as posting letters and parcels, people will be able to pay bills, make cash withdrawals and balance enquiries, change currency and collect and return online shopping orders.

Mathew Wilkes, Post Office network operations manager said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to pay their bills, withdraw cash from their bank accounts, and send and collect their mail at a time and place that suits them best.

“We know how important our services are to customers, and are confident this brand new Post Office alongside the other branches in the area, at the Merry Hill centre and Brierley Hill, will ensure that people have easy access to our services.”