Harrogate's Cold Bath Road Post Office has closed - join the campaign to save it

The post office tweeted that it's "not affordable at the moment at all" to keep the facility open, and they have appealed to Harrogate residents for their support.

Owner Asad Rafiq told the 'Advertiser: "When we took over the business in June this year, we thought that we would be getting enough income to keep the post office open, but soon after when all the bills came through, we realised that the income was a lot less than the outgoings, from what the takings for the shop were and the post office salary.

"We tried so hard and now we cannot carry on borrowing more money and ending up in more debt, so it's best that we close it now and we hope to sell the lease to a different business. However, if we could get the support from the council and Post Office, then we might be able to open up again and start providing people with the services they require.

"The elderly people in the area rely on the services that we provide, and it will be very difficult for them to walk to town and use the post office there instead."

The fundraising page set up to support the post office states: "We are trying to help the community by trying to reopen the post office - however, we need your support to be able to fund the business."

A fight to save Cold Bath Road post office from closure in 2007 made national newspaper headlines at the time, and was even discussed in Parliament - but by the end of the Save our Post Office campaign, which was backed by the Harrogate Advertiser, 11,000 people had signed petitions and won the battle to save the post office from closure.

The post office hopes to see the same levels of support again. They have tweeted: "Help with a petition and support us when speaking to our MP on what can be done to save it."

More on this news story as we get it.