A DATE has been set for the relocation of Dunfermline’s Post Office into the WH Smith store on High Street.

On Thursday March 2 the Queen Anne Street building will be closed and services will move into the basement of the newsagents.

The decision was made in October last year, after a six-week public consultation and review, and the post office building will be put up for sale.

Roger Gale, general manager of the Crown branch network, said at the time of the decision: “After careful consideration of the feedback received, I am confident that WH Smith is a suitable host partner and that the new Crown branch will be suitably located.

“I believe this change will help to provide future sustainability for the branch and maintain a Crown post office presence in Dunfermline.”

The modern, open-plan branch in the WH Smith store at 111-113 High Street will be accessed by stairs and lift and will have four counters and two self-service kiosks, with opening hours from 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday (it will open at 9.30am on Tuesdays).

It will provide the same range of services, with the exception of the digital application service, which is available at Abbeyview Post Office.

There were 24 individual responses to the public consultation with concerns including accessibility, disabled parking, whether the WH Smith store was large enough for additional customers, and the fact the new branch would be a downhill walk from the current location and the bus station.

There will be improved lighting, a handrail and although there is a slope on the ground floor level, “WH Smith has confirmed that the gradient will be modified before the move takes place”, Mr Gale said.

Respondents were also unhappy the new branch wouldn’t have a digital application service – used for DVLA licence renewals – or a Post Office ATM and asked about the relocation of the war memorial.

Mr Gale added that they may add an ATM in future – WH Smith already have one outside the shop – and repeated what he said in June, that they were “working with Royal Mail to identify the most appropriate place to relocate the memorial”.

Dunfermline MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville was concerned at what the future would be for the Post Office building. 

She said: “I am naturally disappointed that Post Office Ltd has decided to move Dunfermline’s Crown Post Office from its prime location on Queen Anne Street.

“There are already a number of vacant buildings in the town centre and this decision will add another. People are understandably wondering what will happen to the building now.”