Four town branches, at Speenhamland, Greenham, Wash Common and Berkeley Road will shut early next year, after a six-week “consultation” period brought a storm of protest locally.

Royal Mail is shutting 1400 branches nationally, and so far just 55 have been reprieved. The move away from over the counter benefit payments to bank cards for claimants has been blamed for the downturn in business.

The four sub-postmasters will be typically paid £60,000 each to close, and all four volunteered for inclusion in the closure programme.

People at Wash Common and the Nightingales are now being told to use the branch at St John’s roundabout, which is due for a £20,000 refit, and extra parking spaces to be installed.

The latest streamlining follows the closure of Speen and Fifth road branches recently, and Newbury’s remaining four branches are Cheap Street, St Johns, Turnpike and Shaw.