South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has welcomed plans for the re-opening of Auchencairn Post Office.

The proposals in a letter from Post Office Change Manager Karen Bragg confirm that Post Office services will be back up and running in the Stewartry village from Tuesday 21 January 2020 in the old premises, Heughan House on Main Street. The branch will be open on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9 am to 1.30 pm.

The branch closed in June 2019 following the resignation of the postmaster, with residents having to travel to Palnackie, Dalbeattie or Castle Douglas to access their nearest Post Office.

South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said, “This news will be warmly welcomed by local residents. Villages across our region are losing their local Post Office, so I’m pleased to see Auchencairn has been able to buck the trend with this planned re-opening. It’s a challenging environment for Post Offices as a result of national changes made in areas such as payments to those who do such a valuable job running local post offices. I wish the new Post Office in Auchencairn well for the future and would urge people to help make it viable by using the local Post Office when they can.”