TWO more Winchester sub-post offices could be closed by April, Post Office chiefs warned today.

The closure of outlets in Hyde and Highcliffe will come as a serious blow to many residents, including the elderly and infirm.

Post Office chiefs say the move is necessary to ensure the survival of the business in the long term.

However, they also say, in a statement outlining the planned closures, that: "If these branches close, there are others nearby".

But for customers currently using the Gordon Avenue branch in Highcliffe, their next nearest post office is on the other side of St Giles Hill on Alresford Road, and with no direct road linking the two, it's more than two miles - plus a steep hill climb.

For those people for whom the other closing outlet on Egbert Road in Hyde is their nearest, they face a further mile and a half hike to the outlet on Stoney Lane in Weeke.

The modernisation programme for the sub-post office network will leave Winchester with just five sub-post offices from a total of ten just five years ago.

In total, about 200 urban post offices in Hampshire are set to close - with incentives of tens of thousands of pounds being offered - as the Post Office tries to stem a £1m daily loss.

This latest disclosure comes on the heels of a Daily Echo in October which showed some 88 per cent of Hampshire's urban sub-postmasters were considering shutting-up shop.

However, changes to the way state benefits will be paid from April this year are also largely to blame for the sub-postmaster exodus.

The changes will see benefits paid directly into people's bank accounts and will result in smaller sub-post office branches losing half their income.

Jim Graham, of Arthur Road in Hyde, Winchester, said: "The value of the Egbert Road shop and its post office to this area is very great indeed. It would be a tragedy if it were lost completely."

Deborah Kay, of Wales Street in Winchester, said: "I'm always struck by the friendly and familiar nature of sub-post offices.

"I think losing these stores will seriously affect the health of the local community and I hope it doesn't come to that."

Winchester MP Mark Oaten said: "We know the reason that these post offices are closing is because Post Office Ltd wrote to sub-postmasters offering them an incentive to close.

"We must stop this because sub-post offices offer important and invaluable services for local people.

"The real alternative to closures is for the government to let these stores do other business, such as supplying car tax, which would allow them to continue to be run profitably."

Neither sub-postmaster at Egbert Road or Gordon Avenue wished to comment.

A spokesman for the Post Office, said: "There are simply not enough customers for the number of offices in towns and cities and there is the prospect of further customer losses once benefits payments change from order books to bank accounts.

"For the network to survive, we must make some tough, commercial decisions."