POST offices across the district which were forced to close will find out imminently whether they can reopen.

Essex County Council has confirmed that a decision is due any day on which, if any, of the six closed post offices in the Epping Forest district it will help to restore to full use.

A council spokesman said: "Discussions are ongoing and we are very optimistic we will be able to announce something shortly."

Allnuts Post Office, and Lindsey Stores, in Epping; Cherry Tree Rise Post Office, in Buckhurst Hill; Grange Hill Post Office, in Chigwell, and the branches in Moreton and Willingale were all closed.

Former Allnuts Stores postmistress Shanhaz Javid said: "I hope it will be chosen, but at the moment I don't know anything. It would be very welcome. The people around here are really fed up. Pensioners come in here saying they have to queue up and spend money on a taxis to get them up the hill. All I hear are complaints."

Grange Hill district councillor David Bateman said it was of "the utmost importance" that his local branch should re-open.

He said: "It's essential we get this particular post office reopened. If you go down and talk to the local business people you can see it's not just the post office that suffers. People wouldn't just go to the post office. They would call in at the other shops.

"The post office is at the back of a general store and the owner has told me his takings have suffered dramaticly. We can only be optimistic it will be reopened. It's important that it is."