THE mayor, Cllr Daphne Watts, said anger was not too strong a word to describe her feelings on the closing of Newton Abbot's main post office. The branch is shutting its doors in Market Walk and the town will then have a post office in the Costcutter supermarket, 83-85 Queen Street, and another in Buckland. After a two-year battle by the town council, Teignbridge Council, the chamber of trade, the police and residents trying to persuade Post Office Ltd to keep the main post office open, they lost out after a public inquiry. Thursday, March 22, is D-Day, when a post office with a promised 11 counters opens in Costcutter. 'I am very disappointed and saddened for the people of Newton Abbot. I think that Royal Mail has made an economic mistake,' she said. Cllr Watts urged members that when they were passing Costcutter to monitor the post office to see how many counters were open and how many people were using it. 'We will be happy to collate that information with the town clerk. 'Hopefully, at some point, as the town develops, we can look at a small post office back at the other end of the town,' said Cllr Watts, who chaired the council's post office sub-committee. Cllr David Corney-Walker maintained there was never genuine consultation. 'The mayor knew she had the bulk of the town behind her. Let us support what we now have, particularly Buckland, Kingsteignton and Kingskerswell post offices. 'These are all post offices that in the current climate could be under threat,' he warned. Cllr Mike Hocking said it was a sad day and now there would be no post office in the Borough of Newton Abbot for the first time in 200 years. The chairman, Cllr Colin Allsop, said the one spin-off is that it could help the small shops at that end of the town, and Cllr Mike Ryan said he only hoped the new post office could cope with the queues. He thanked Cllr Watts and her committee for all their hard work in trying to keep the main post office open. Pointing out that he could speak for the disabled and the elderly, Cllr Reg Wills said there was a building society in the town centre which would accept the payment of pensions with similar facilities as the post office offered. 'Obviously, you cannot tax your car there. On principle, I will not be going to Costcutter and will go to the building society instead,' said Cllr Wills. The post office was described as being 'dead sneaky' by Cllr Geraldine Gaskell. 'For the past four months it has only put the post office at Costcutter on its website and disassociated itself from Market Walk,' she said.