SHOPKEEPER Stan Varley is poised to hold a closing down sale at his corner shop after losing half his business when the post office closed.

Hundreds of people joined a doomed campaign to save the post office at Primrose Hill Stores on the outskirts of Lydney.

But the closure went ahead and now Stan fears the same will happen to his local store.

Many of the people who tried to save the post office no longer come in and he might have to close the doors for good.

Mr Varley is offering 10% off his goods and that will be followed by a closing down sale unless people start picking up a bit of shopping locally instead of spending all their money in Tesco.

"I don't think people realise how serious it is," he said.

"To be honest the takings have halved and things are pretty dire.

"If the shop goes it will tear the guts out of Primrose Hill and people will be devastated. But if the community want us to stay open, they need to use us."

Wife Jeanette was postmistress until a recent wave of closures nationally.

The couple not only lost her wage, but trade from people who picked up a few goods at the same time as their pensions, benefits or stamps.

On top of that Mr Varley had a heart operation which meant he had to pay for staff until he recovered.

"Everybody tells us the shop is the centre of the community, but we cannot afford to keep going at a loss," he said. "When they tried to close the post office we had 750 people trying to stop it. If those people used us more, we could stay open."