A PENSIONER who is in favour of a supermarket moving into a Suffolk town says he has been banned from his local post office.
Roy Smith, chairman of the Hadleigh Tesco Supporters Group, has been told he is no longer welcome in the branch in the High Street.
Mr Smith, 76, said he was concerned that people who might need to visit the post office to collect their pensions would also be banned if they backed the retailer.
But last night Jerry Brown, who owns the branch with his wife Debbie, said there was no danger of this happening and that Mr Smith had been asked to leave because he had interfered with a “Hands off Hadleigh” poster supporting the anti-Tesco campaigners.
The supermarket giant has submitted plans to build a store on the Brett Works site in the town - proposals that have split the community.
While supporters believe it will breathe life into Hadleigh and be a welcome asset to the area opponents believe it will kill off independent traders in the High Street.
Mr Smith said: “It all revolves around Tesco. The postmaster is opposed to it and I'm very much in favour of it. Because of our views we had an altercation in his shop and it ended with him banning me from the post office.
“It's rather unusual. As a result he made it quite clear he didn't want to see me in there again.
“I don't use the post office much - my pension is done through direct debit and I visit Ipswich once a week so any parcels that need sending can be done from there.”
Last night Mr Brown said Mr Smith was welcome back in the post office at any time - so long as he respected the views of himself and his wife.
“Mr Smith did come into the post office and he was trying to obscure our posters which give support to the 'Hands off Hadleigh' campaign,” he said. “I asked him to stop and if he could leave the premises. At that point he asked me if I was banning him and I said I hadn't thought of doing so but if that's what he wanted then I would.
“My wife and I own the shop - so we are entitled to display what we like. He is welcome back so long as he keeps his opinion to himself when he comes in - in public he can say what he likes but when he comes into our shop I would ask him to respect our views.
“Of course we will not be banning pensioners who support Tesco - we want more to come in if possible. However if a supermarket does move into the town then that would be the most serious threat to anyone wanting to use the post office because our retail business just wouldn't be able to compete.”