A RYEDALE post office which was forced to close amid a round of Government cuts is to be turned into a restaurant.

The Norton branch was one of 2,500 to be axed in 2008, meaning customers in the town have since had to use outlets in Malton or Beverley Road instead.

Now Ryedale District Council planners have given their approval to a scheme which will see the Church Street building revived and become a restaurant, with a single-floor extension being added at the back of the site to provide a kitchen and lobby area.

Before its closure, the post office and shop had been part of community life in Norton for 75 years, with £35,000 being ploughed into giving it a new look and better facilities for disabled customers after severe floods ravaged the area in 2000.

But two years ago it was one of 51 branches across North and East Yorkshire to be placed on a Government hit-list, with the final customers being served in April 2008.

At the time, Patricia Hands, who was the post office's sub-postmaster and invested her own money into providing the improved facilities, said she was “gutted” by the decision to close the branch and claimed she felt “badly let down”.

In documents submitted to the council, the applicants said the new restaurant would slot in between a neighbouring bakery and curry house and, because it lies within a flood risk area, defence mechanisms would be put in place.

Norton-on-Derwent Town Council also backed the plans, while North Yorkshire County Council said a watching brief should be maintained during the facelift of the building to check whether any ancient remains lie beneath the surface.

Meanwhile, Ryedale District Council's forward planning and conservation department has asked that the old post office shop front should be preserved in the design for the new restaurant.

The controversial raft of post office closures in 2008 ultimately saw Ryedale lose 12 branches.