By Martin Shankleman BBC employment correspondent

Branch numbers have fallen from 25,000 in the 1960s to 14,000 Full list for closure [36KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

It is the measure of the pressure on Royal Mail that it is planning such a concentrated programme of compulsory post office closures.

Until recently, management preferred to seek volunteers for closure, and avoided enforced cuts.

But the Post Office says it has no choice.

The government, concerned at the network's mounting debts, has told it to close up to 2,500 post offices over the next 18 months.

The aim is to curb losses running at �4m a week.

A number of small rural offices seem hopelessly uneconomic, according to figures produced by the government.

They show the 800 smallest rural post offices are used by fewer than 16 people a week, which equates to a cost of �17 per visit.

However some of the offices set for closure claim they are thriving and profitable.

Martin Bailey-Dalton, who recently bought the office in Beverley, East Yorks, for �250,000 claims it takes �160,000 each week, and has a healthy future.

But even so the underlying problem facing the network are large.

It has been losing large numbers of customers who used to come to the Post Office to claim their benefits.