Villagers might not have to travel out of the community

A village Post Office which was due for demolition next week may get a reprieve if another home is found for it.

Eleventh hour talks are being carried out with another villager in Llanfihangel Talyllyn, near Brecon, to see if closure can be averted, said Val Bodden, media relations manager at Royal Mail Group.

But the current Post Office, which is leased, will still be demolished next week because its home is structurally unsafe.

"We are hopeful but until everything is signed and sealed we cannot say anything, we would want to keep the service - it's the building that is not going to exist any more," she added.

For the time being, the sub-postmaster cannot carry on with the part-time service.

He has been running it since his grandmother, who was the postmistress, died last year, said Mrs Bodden.

We don't want people to live more than a mile from a post office Val Bodden, Royal Mail Group

She said imaginative ways of looking at siting post offices have seen businesses opening in a pub in Tintern, a hat shop in north Wales and in a Chinese takeaway in England.

"Sometimes people convert their garages," she added.

The planned closure at Llanfihangel Talyllyn is not part of the Urban Network Reinvention Programme which is leading to many post offices in towns closing their doors.

"We want to have a viable future for post offices and the Urban Network Reinvention Programme is the response from Post Office Ltd and the government.

"We don't want people to live more than a mile from a post office," she said.

Chiefs at Postwatch Wales, the consumer watchdog for postal services, have already expressed their worry about the future of the Post Office.

If another home is not found, villagers will have to travel just under a mile and a half to their nearest Post Office at Llangorse.