PLANS for a post office in the Blue Bell pub at Callow End can now go ahead - almost a year after the village post office closed its doors.

Landlady Ann Curnock said the post office could be in place by August, or even earlier, after the Union Pub Company agreed to accept it on renewal of a three-year rolling lease.

The stumbling block had been the brewery's previous insistence on a 21-year lease, against the wishes of Mrs Curnock and her business partner, licensee Bill Rice.

"We can now move forward and apply for funding," she said.

"But we couldn't have got this far without the help of our district councillor, Tom Wells, who has sent so many e-mails to the brewery to get them to agree to this.

"He has been pushing it all the way and I am convinced that, if he hadn't intervened, we would have lost it by now."

Councillor Wells said he was delighted to have reached this far.

"This has been holding up the application for grants. Now they can pursue the final chapter, which is to get the grants for fixtures and fittings, which they couldn't do without the full backing of the brewery," he said.

Meanwhile, nearby Powick has been without a post office and general store since Christmas and a move to open a new post office at Powick Service Station has run into planning difficulties.

Owner Priyvadan Rughani said he wanted to have the post office as a service to the community, but first he needed more parking on the site.

His plan to make five new spaces has been turned down because it could affect the roots of a mature beech tree and his alternative plan for two spaces is still awaiting a decision.

Charles Ellis, landlord of Powick's Red Lion Inn, has put forward the idea of having a new village shop at the pub.

Mr Rughani said it would be a good idea for Mr Ellis to take on the post office as well, if his own application was not successful.

"Let's wait and see what happens," he said.