CONCERNS have been raised about the future of a village post office as the current postmaster is set to retire.

Musa Patel has been running the Bradshaw Post Office, in Lea Gate, Harwood, since 2008 and will be stepping down at the end of May for medical reasons.

So far, no-one has been found to replace Mr Patel as postmaster but the Post Office said it is committed to maintaining a service in the village.

Mr Musa has had people coming into the shop telling him how much he will be missed.

The 58-year-old, who lives in Harwood, said: “I have a spinal injury that is quite debilitating.

“I am lifting parcels and bags and things like that I am in pain at the end of the day. It is doing damage to my discs as well. I would love to carry on.”

While he has enjoyed serving the people of Harwood and the surrounding areas, his time in charge of the post office has not been without incident with armed robberies in October 2015 and January 2017.

Speaking about his customers, Mr Musa said: “Everyone has been so lovely. The whole community has been saying kind things. I will miss everyone so much.

“I want to say a huge thank you.There are no words to express how kind everyone has been.”

However, he said he has been kept in the dark about the post office’s future but hopes they get someone in.

He said: “I don’t know what they want to do. Maybe they will move it to another location or into another business.”

A spokesman for the Post Office said: “We are aware that the postmaster at Bradshaw Post Office has expressed an interest in leaving the network and is scheduled to step down as postmaster in May 2018. We would like to reassure customers that the Post Office is committed to maintaining a Post Office service in Bradshaw and will work hard to ensure this.”