ALLNUTS Stores Post Office has finally reopened this morning, 18 months after it was forced to shut down in a nationwide cost-cutting programme.

The popular branch, in Allnuts Road, Epping, was one of dozens of facilities closed down in Essex by the Post Office Ltd.

Allnuts reopened at 10.30am following several months of negotiations brought by Essex County Council, which has been battling to reopen several of the area's post offices.

It comes after the similar council-backed re-opening of a branch in Station Way, Buckhurst Hill.

Conservative Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing said: "The post office provides a really essential service to the community and their work is far more than just selling stamps and posting packages.

"We are fortunate that Essex has a really innovative county council which has taken enormous steps making this possible."

Lib Dem Epping Town Councillor Janet Whitehouse, one of the campaigners who battled to get the branch on Essex County Council's list of contenders for re-opening, said she was "delighted".

She said: "We're so pleased to have it opened after all this time.

"The post office there has always been at the centre of the community and I hope people will continue to support it."