DETERMINATION to keep a post office in Quedgeley is increasing as officials discuss alternative locations.

Representatives from Post Office Ltd have visited Quedgeley to look at a new home.

The move comes after Martin's newsagents, which houses the post office, announced its intention to close.

Jackie Hall, deputy leader of Gloucestershire County Council, and a Quedgeley councillor, said: "We discussed a way forward. They (the Post Office) will be looking at their lists of people who potentially are keen to run a post office. I suggested they look at various business units and publicly-owned buildings in Quedgeley.

"We agreed to keep in contact so we were all up to speed. Unfortunately, the Post Office will need to begin its consultation and a notice stating that the post office will close will be released soon.

"However, within that notice, there will be a clause asking for any interested party who wishes to set up a service to contact Post Office Ltd."

It is believed the post office, in the Severnvale Shopping Centre, turns over 2,400 customers a week and is a profitable business.

The community was up in arms after they heard about the closure, with 50 people staging a protest outside the premises.

One of the protestors, Tricia Dobbs, 64, of Carters Orchard, said the closure would be terrible.

She said: "I use the post office all the time. We have our newspaper delivered from Martin's, I come in here to buy cards and Hardwicke, where the nearest post office is, is a long way to walk down the road."

Resident Patricia Wooltorton, of Woodlands Park, said: "I'm 81 years old and I draw my pension and my widows' pension from here. It's absolutely disgusting. What are we supposed to do?"

The nearest post offices to Quedgeley are in Elmgrove Road East, Hardwicke, about one mile away, and the centre of town, 3.5 miles down the road.