Face to face banking services have returned to Beachport for the first time in more than 15 years.

The Robe branch of the Bendigo Community Bank is staffing a part-time agency in the original Post Office in Railway Terrace which dates back to the 1870s.

It is open every Thursday and a wide range of banking services are provided.

Australia Post vacated the stone building in 1994 and it has since been used as a café, gift and homewares shop and as a residence.

The last financial institution to operate at Beachport was Bank SA which had a part-time staffed agency in the now-demolished nineteenth-century Gilders Store in Foster Street. It closed after an armed hold-up in the early 2000s and never reopened.

For many years, the former Beachport customs house claimed to be the smallest bank in Australia as the ANZ Bank had a part-time staffed agency on the premises.

Located near the junction of Millicent Road and Railway Terrace, it is fitted out with historical items loaned by the Beachport National Trust as well as two mannequins in period costume.

A picture of the quaint building by freelance photographer Peter Gandolfi was published in the Australasian Post magazine 30 years ago.