An estate has been dealt a blow with the news it is to lose its post office.

Royal Mail has confirmed it will shut the branch, in Courtland Road, Rose Hill, Oxford, on March 19, after failing to reach an agreement with the shop's owners Anna and Bharat Dalal.

Mail spokesman Richard Hall said: "We are talking to a third party about restoring a post office in the area, but have not been able to finalise anything yet, so regrettably there will be a break in service.

"There are four other branches within a mile of Rose Hill which customers can use in the meantime."

Mr and Mrs Dalal, who have applied for a licence to open a pharmacy in the premises, hoped a post office would continue to operate in the revamped store, but have been unable to reach an agreement with Royal Mail about the terms.

Mrs Dalal said a temporary sub-postmaster currently ran the post office side of the business, while they ran the grocery side.

She said: "They have been running on the premises for more than two years without us earning anything from it."

At the end of last year, the Government announced that 2,500 post offices would close nationally under a restructuring of the network.

If the closures were spread evenly across the country, Oxfordshire could lose about 33 of its 188 post offices from next summer.

But no details have yet been given of which post offices will close. A three-month period of consultation finishes this month.

Mrs Dalal, who has run the store with her husband for five years, said they realised the important role the post office played in community life, but had been left with no option.

She added: "It's like one chapter is over for us and another chapter has started, but I know for Rose Hill it's a big thing.

"We understand the community and the way it works and the post office is important in the area."

Carol Davis, chairman of the estate's community centre, said: "I use it and a lot of other people use it and I'm amazed that this has happened when Rose Hill is going to be expanded even further. We don't have many facilities as it is, without losing one."

Ali Berry, from Court Farm Road, uses the post office every week.

She added: "I sometimes use the post office in Cowley but the queues there are massive and I wouldn't want to use it regularly. I'd definitely be sorry to see it go and I know a lot of pensioners who live on the estate will be too."