Residents who miss postal deliveries will face a three-and-a-half mile journey to East Molesey to collect their parcels when the town’s Royal Mail delivery office relocates.

The move to the Walton Road office was made necessary when the landlord was given permission to demolish the Esher office and redevelop the entire site.

The office, and a large strip of Esher High Street where Dapper and Mailbox used to be, will be rebuilt and companies including Zizzi and Cote have registered an interest in the site.

Royal Mail will move out of town on October 31 – but a move would have been inevitable as the lease had come to an end.

There will be no compulsory redundancies, and postmen and women raised no major concerns.

Marc Marcou, Communication Workers Union representative for the area, said: “They could not find anywhere in Esher so the nearest one was in East Molesey.

“Esher’s postmen and women will go out in vans instead of bikes.

“There have been a few issues such as staff parking, because we are going to have two offices in one, but no major issues.

“Some people did not want to move, but unfortunately we do not have an option because we do not own the building in Esher.”

Councillor David Archer said he sympathised with the people that were inconvenienced by the move, but said there were no objections during the consultation and said the “hideous” building was past its sell-by date.

Dominic Ellis, Royal Mail’s delivery sector manager, said: “Maintaining a high quality of service to our customers in Esher and East Molesey will remain our priority during these changes.”

If customers miss deliveries, a redelivery can be arranged free of charge.

If they need to collect it, the newly-merged East Molesey and Esher delivery office will be open Monday to Saturday 7.30am to 12.30pm, with extended opening on Wednesday until 8pm.