Campaigners battling to save a main post office in Brighton are worried people do not know it is on a closure hit list.

Last week Post Office Ltd revealed 19 sub-post offices in Brighton, Hove, Portslade and Southwick faced the axe.

However, a main branch at Hampton Place, Western Road, Brighton, was left off the list, although Post Office Ltd mentioned its proposed closure on a Press release. Users only realised it too was earmarked for closure in February when they saw notices inside.

One 83-year-old customer said: "I live just round the corner. If I have to go to Ship Street, it takes seven or eight minutes longer and means having to cross busy roads.

"This is going to cause hardship to quite a lot of pensioners.

"About ten years ago they were threatening to close it and local people started a campaign to keep it open."

Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper said: "It's a little underhand the Post Office Ltd didn't include this in its list of sub-post offices to close because it's directly managed.

"My concern is it's the nearest post office to the main shopping areas of Western Road. There's another in Western Road but it's not on the main shopping drag."

A spokesman for Post Office Ltd said: "There is an extensive plan for Brighton and Hove. The big story is we are investing £1.4 million in Ship Street. Our employees at Hampton Place would be moved to Ship Street.

"These are proposals and we are in a consultation process which finishes on December 2. We have done a lot of work to look at all of the plans and present them at the start of the consultation in what we think is the right way forward."

Meanwhile residents in Patcham are calling for a rethink over the closure of two branches near their homes.

Their complaints have been taken up by councillors Carol and Geoffrey Theobald and Brian Pidgeon.

Coun Geoffrey Theobald said the possible closures at Mackie and Carden Avenues were bad news for Patcham.

He said: "This means 7,000 residents in Patcham will have just one post office to use."