RESIDENTS of Horwich, Lostock and Westhougton might not have noticed any difference in their daily postal service, but behind the scenes there has been a major transformation.

A new postal delivery office has opened at Northgate Close, Middlebrook, and is delivering about 80,000 letters and packets to 26,500 addresses a day in the BL5 and BL6 areas.

The Bolton West office employs 80 people who previously worked at the town's King Street depot and is part of a £6 million investment from the Royal Mail.

A new delivery office was needed as the King Street facility had become too small for the volume of mail -- and the office could not have opened at a better time of year with Christmas post just around the corner.

The multi-million pound investment in Bolton as a whole will include a refurbishment of the King Street office and the building of a third delivery office in the Valley area of Bolton next year.

Bolton's Mayor, Cllr Alan Wilkinson, along with other VIP guests such as Horwich Mayor Peter McGeehan and Westhoughton Mayor Janet Halliwell, attended an opening ceremony at the new delivery office yesterday.

Cllr Wilkinson unveiled a plaque commemorating the occasion and spoke about his passion for post office memorabilia. He said: "I do have a personal interest in the Royal Mail and have collected bits of postal history for a number of years. The oldest letter I have dates back to 1786 and is addressed to Bolton-Le-Moors."

Roy Hall, area operations manager at the Bolton West office, said: "The new office ensures we can maintain a high standard of delivery into the future.

"We do face several challenges such as new technology and new competition.

"This is a good time of year for the office to open as we're coming up to the busiest time of year with the amount of post doubling at Christmas."