Post offices to close

Tim Loughton described the imminent closure of the South Farm Road and Alinora Crescent branches as a "great tragedy".

The MP for East Worthing and Shoreham said: "Worthing is a series of villages rather than a town: sub-post offices and banks are at the heart of those communities, relied upon by residents and local businessmen.

"Given that we have already lost so many banks, in many cases it is the sub-post offices which are the last remaining lynchpins of local communities and very soon shops will disappear as well.

"It is simply not viable for some elderly people to have to walk over a mile each way to get to the post offices."

Alex Adams has been sub-postmaster at the South Farm Road branch for nearly eight years. He said the decision to close was based on business facts and not emotion.

"No post office will be closing without the agreement of the sub-postmaster," he said. "It is just not economically viable as a business. The customers are disappointed, particularly many of the older customers.

"There are some very nice people who come in and I shall miss them but this is a decision which had to be based on business economics rather than sentiment."

He said the direct debit payment of pensions straight into bank accounts had halved the number of customers visiting the post office each week.

The Alinora Crescent branch in Goring will close on October 29. The closure has been agreed with the sub-postmaster who wants to leave the business. No date has been announced for the South Farm Road closure.

Drew McBride, head of area for the Post Office, said: "We have a responsibility to ensure customers in Worthing will continue to have reasonable access to local Post Office products and services.

"Even after any changes are made, well over 95 per cent of customers will still live within a mile of a Post Office branch."