Despite a petition signed by 1,000 people, the post office counter in Grimston Post Office Store will close on Saturday.

After spending �40,000 on a new sorting office just seven years ago, Royal Mail moved the facility to King's Lynn, blaming falling mail volumes.

In December, union leaders warned the move would make the village post office unviable. Bosses accused them of 'scaremongering'.

A sign inside Grimston Post Office Store today said the post office counter would close at 12-noon on Saturday. Proprietor Peter Joyce said: 'I just can't make it work without the sorting office out the back.'

Post Office Ltd said: 'Grimston Post Office, 1 Massingham Road, will temporarily close on Monday, January 16, due to the resignation of the temporary subpostmaster and withdrawal of the premises for Post Office use.'

The company said villagers could use nearby post offices at Gayton or Hillington. The village store will be unaffected by the closure of the post office counter.

Post Office Ltd spokesperson Wendy Hamilton said: 'Customers can be assured that it remains our intention to keep a post office service in the area and we are currently investigating the options available.

'Our priority is to maintain post office services to the local community and it is therefore important that any future service is sustainable for the person operating the service and for Post Office Ltd.

'There are currently a number of new types of services which are successfully operating nationwide. These include Outreach services which are operated by a subpostmaster from a nearby branch, with hours of opening set to reflect the likely number of customers who will use the service, or a post office local service, which runs alongside an established local shop.'