Sutton is set to lose five of its post offices in the latest swathe of closures.

Branches in Carshalton's Wrythe Lane and Carshalton Road, one in Bishopsford Road, one in Sherwood Park Road and another in Sutton's Gander Green Lane have been earmarked for closure.

The Post Office began a six-week consultation on the closures on Monday this week - but Sutton's affected postmasters said they had accepted the decision.

"We have run this post office for 25 years, but what can you do?" Ranjan Dave, post mistress at the Gander Green Lane branch, said.

Nasir Ahmad, who runs a post office from his general store in Wrythe Lane, said he could understand why his had been earmarked for closure.

"The problem is that there was too many post offices here - there are five in this area," he said.

The closure of the post office in Carshalton Road may come as a relief to its owner, Kris Bala.

He said: "It'll be less of a headache without it. People would always shout at us if they didn't get their benefit money. Business has been hard recently anyway."

But a spokeswoman for Age Concern said the closures would hit Sutton's elderly hard.

"The post office has historically been a major contributor in assisting older people to live as independently as possible.

"With the closure of neighbourhood post offices, our growing older population will become more isolated, particularly those who are housebound," she said.

In line with Government policy 169 branches are due to close in London.

"Taking the decision to close any branch is always very difficult and we know it will cause concern to many of our customers.

"We want to ensure that everyone who uses, relies on or has any concern with Post Office services is both fully aware of the proposed changes and able to give views on them," said a Post Office spokeswoman.