Ardrossan's main town centre Post Office is set to close before the end of the month.

The facility will be removed from the Nisa Local store in Glasgow Street in less than three weeks after the postmaster resigned.

The Post Office counter in the store closed yesterday (Tuesday) due to staffing issues.

It will remain shut for the rest of this week and over the Easter weekend, before reopening on Tuesday, April 11.

Just two weeks later, however, on April 25, the facility will close for good - though the Nisa store itself will remain open.

It leaves the Post Office counter at the McColl's store in Central Avenue as the only remaining Post Office facility in Ardrossan.

A spokesperson for Nisa said: "All Nisa stores are independently owned so all business decisions are made by the business owner.

"I’ve spoken with the retailer however who has confirmed they’ve had to make the difficult decision to close the Post Office within the store."

A Post Office spokesperson confirmed: “Ardrossan Post Office has been short-term temporarily closed since Tuesday due to staffing issues. The branch is due to re-open on Tuesday, APril 11.

"The Postmaster has resigned and the branch is now due to close on April 25.

"The vacancy is advertised on www.runapostoffice.co.uk. In the interim, alternative branches include Central Avenue and Saltcoats.”

Ardrossan was left without a Post Office service in the town centre back in 2017 after the sudden closure of the facility a short distance along Glasgow Street.

It took a year and a half before normal service was resumed as the Nisa Local store a short distance away agreed to take on the role. 

The closing date for applications to run a new Post Office franchise in the town is September 30.

The problem echoes a similar one in Kilwinning, where the only town centre Post Office shut down at the start of the year.

The nearest facility in Kilwinning is in Pennyburn, leaving locals, particularly elderly or infirm ones, fuming.

Last month, North Ayrshire and Arran MP Patricia Gibson highlighted the case of the facility on Kilwinning's Main Street in the House of Commons.

Ms Gibson said: "The decline of Post Offices in our rural and urban communities is truly alarming such as the loss of the Post Office in my constituency on Kilwinning Main Street.

“Postmasters are struggling desperately to make a living, now this is partly down to the fact that the last Labour government stripped Post Offices of many of the services that they were able to offer – and this government’s ongoing failure to provide the necessary energy support that they so desperately need."