A community is reeling at news that two of its five post offices will close this summer.

The owners of the Haworth Brow and Oxenhope branches in the Worth Valley have been unable to find buyers for their businesses. Both have been up for sale for months.

The post office in Cross Roads is also on the market, although the postmistress said she currently had no plans to close.

There are just two other post offices in the Worth Valley – one in Main Street, Haworth, and another in the Co-op in Oakworth.

Councillor John Huxley, of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council, said: “It’s a really bad situation for people in the valley. Lots of members of the community rely on the post office for essential services.” He said he wanted to co-operate with Oxenhope and Keighley councils to try and figure out alternative methods of retaining the vital public services.

Councillor Neal Cameron, who chairs Oxenhope Parish Council, said: “We don’t want to lose this service.

“But organising a community-run facility which could replace it would take us months.

“I’ve not yet seen any ‘keep our post office’ campaign. And the longer that this business is absent, the harder it will be to resurrect.”

Bob and Jacky Howe have managed the Haworth Brow Post Office, in Mill Hey, for 24 years. They will soon retire and said their post office would close on August 31.

Mr Howe said: “It’s been on the market for three years with three different agents.

“We’ve not even had a viewing. There’s been a complete lack of interest. It’s a completely viable post office. We’ve made our living out of it for 24 years.”

He said the lack of response was due to banks’ unwillingness to lend to small businesses and uncertainty about the future of post offices.

Stephen Taylor, 66, postmaster of Oxenhope Post Office, in Station Road, for nearly 13 years, said he was retiring and that his branch would close on Saturday, June 25.

“It’s been on the market for 18 months and there’s been no response whatsoever,” he said.

Angela Armstrong, postmistress of the Cross Roads branch, in Halifax Road, said her enterprise was carrying on. “We are up for sale but it’s not because the business isn’t doing well,” she said.

“We’ve been here 15 years and we’re ready for a change, and ready to work fewer hours.”