TWO rural post offices that have been turned into convenience stores will shut after struggling to cope with changes in the service they can offer.

Post offices in Hamsterley, near Bishop Auckland, and in Ingleton, near Darlington, will shut on June 28 and July 10 respectively.

With no one stepping forward to take over either shop, both villages will be without a post office.

Both sub-postmistresses said the Government's decision to pay pensions into bank accounts, rather than through pension books, and the fact that TV licences are no longer available there, has hit sales.

Hazel Whitehead, sub-postmistress at Ingleton, said: "Not only have we lost pensions, but also some trade from the sales of milk and papers.

"We have had a few villagers come in and say how sorry they were and they felt it was their fault for not giving us enough support. It's something that's happening everywhere - small businesses are really struggling."

She said it would be hard to leave the post office which has been in the family for 45 years.

"We've deliberated over it for the past two years. But at the end of the day it wasn't viable any more," she said

Julia Hunter, sub-postmistress at Hamsterley for 14 years, said: "The supermarkets have taken lots of our business away from us - we just get passing trade now."

Both Hamsterley and Ingleton are hoping to introduce a mobile post office.

Hamsterley councillor George Richardson said: "This is extremely sad for the local people, particularly the older members of the village who don't have many buses to get to other places."

He said local people would have to travel to Wolsingham, six miles away, to use a post office.

A Post Office spokesman said: "We are aiming to fill the vacancies at Hamsterley and Ingleton post offices on a permanent basis.

"Should this not be possible, we would consider introducing a mobile post office service, subject to some technical considerations.