RESIDENTS of Innerleithen finally have something to write home about, after it was confirmed this week that the Post Office is returning to the town.

At the meeting of the town’s community council on Monday evening, chairman Marshall Douglas revealed that the owners of The Allotment store, based across from the Bank of Scotland on the High Street, have managed to seal the deal with post bosses to restore a service.

It comes after a year and a half without a full-time offering.

Mr Douglas said: “This is tremendous news for the town.

“I would like to thank Susan Meikle for stepping up to secure a permanent Post Office facility here in Innerleithen.

“Susan has confirmed that the new Post Office concession will be opening on Wednesday, August 29, at 1pm.”

The delivery of the news brings an end to a long-running saga to reinstate a full-time service in the town.

In February 2017, the Border Telegraph and Peeblesshire News reported that the concession within the Daymart Newsagents on the town’s High Street had closed.

This sparked a six-week consultation by the Post Office on proposals to operate a one-day mobile service in the town.

The consultation was met with a huge backlash from local politicians and residents, who set up a petition to restore full Post Office services in Innerleithen and the launch of an appeal for local businesses to come forward to take on a concession within their stores.

Just weeks after the announcement, local businessman Andrew Caldwell, of Caldwell’s Ices, came up with a plan to open the service within his store.

But a row over the opening hours with Post Office bosses soon put a stop to the idea.

While the town has been without a permanent service, a mobile service has operated for several hours each Friday in Innerleithen, forcing residents who urgently need to make postal deliveries to travel east to Walkerburn, or west to Peebles to do so.

A spokesperson from the Post Office told us that, while plans are yet to be finalised, further details about the reopening, including information about the range of services that will be on offer to customers, will be released in due course.