A post office will close next month, leaving elderly residents worried about collecting their pensions.

Atkins H has been in Sackville Road, Hove, for more than 45 years but will shut on February 27 due to a lack of business.

Counter clerk Anita King, 62, said: "I have worked in post offices all over Brighton throughout my life and by and large this is the most needy area I have ever worked in.

"There are lots and lots of elderly and disabled people around here and they will find it very difficult to get to the next nearest post office, which is in Blatchington Road.

"We have had people crying in here because we are shutting. When you are an 80-year-old, one of the last things you want is your post office to be taken away.

"Their pension is the only money they get and it is very precious to them. They cannot walk far and they cannot afford to get a taxi or bus."

Since announcing her decision to close, the owner of the post office - who has asked not to be named - has received several letters from worried customers.

One letter read: "I cannot walk very far and don't know how I will get to another post office."

A petition against the closure, circulated in shops and flats, collected 179 signatures in its first day.

Ernie Shipp, owner of neighbouring Shipp's News, said: "People that go to the post office often come here too. If they don't need to go to the post office they may never know we are here."

Atkins could be the first of several post offices to close in Brighton and Hove following proposals by Consignia, the company responsible for the post office, to close up to half of Britain's 17,500 post offices over the next five years.