GRAYS Post Office has a new home.

The shop, which is in Grays Shopping Centre next to supermarket Iceland, opened last Friday.

The rehoming of town centre's Post Office ends a nine-month saga which began when WH Smith - which had initially been home to central Grays; only post office - closed down in June last year.

A temporary home was set up in the council building on New Road so that people wishing to use the Post Office’s services in the town could do so.

John Kent, the leader of Thurrock Council said: "It was back in June last year that WH Smiths shut in Grays and the Post Office lost its home. I was determined that the council should provide a temporary home for the Post Office which turned out to be for ten months.

"In the weeks before that I worked with senior officers, the town centre management, and the Post Office management to make sure the council would be able to ensure this vital service continued uninterrupted.

"There are plenty of vulnerable people, the elderly and the disabled who rely on the Post Office in their day-to-day lives, and I was pleased to be able to step in and help.

"Unfortunately nobody appears to have told Post Office users, or arranged a seamless transfer, so it was around two on Friday afternoon when Post Office services were available in town again."

The new Post Office shop still carries the "Style and Beauty" and "Allsorts" fasicas. But that wasn’t deterring people, as on Monday lunchtime there was a queue out the door for the shop’s five kiosks.

The new Post Office will be officially opened by Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price on Friday.