Pensioners have had to get lifts to Stoke Ferry and Downham since the village's post office in Church Road closed on September 14 last year following an audit check.

Mrs Brown has continued to run her general store but is now understood to have asked the Post Office to remove its equipment. She is on holiday at present and not available to comment.

The outcome of the audit – the first to be carried out since Mrs Brown took over – has not been revealed, and a Post Office spokesman told the Lynn News: "There's still some ongoing discussion about the audit."

She added: "We had a request to remove the Post Office equipment but we are still talking to the postmistress."

Mrs Brown previously said the post office closure was hitting her general trade, especially on Monday pension days in the village.

The spokesman said that consultations starting soon in Norfolk on the Post Office's network change programme could play a significant factor in determining whether Wereham keeps its post office.

Six weeks of consultations begin on March 26, as part of the review of its network which the Post Office has been asked to undertake by the Government.

It is looking to close 2,500 of its 14,300 branches nationwide.

A report prepared for Breckland Council, as it draws up its response to the review, says the programme will involve an average four post office closures in every parliamentary constituency, with all closures taking place this year.

In Breckland as a whole, it is estimated that 17 per cent of post offices could close and the report says the knock-on impact could severely affect local shops as well because 75 per cent of post offices are situated within existing businesses.

"In rural areas such as Breckland, the post office income usually supplements a retail income such as a grocery or newsagent.

"It is possible that without the post office the remaining business is not viable and could close," it points out.