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More towns lose their last bank as lenders renege on promises
Britain’s banks are breaking their pledges not to close the last bank branches in rural towns, leaving pensioners without access to cash and facilities.

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Derek French of the Campaign for Community Banking said vulnerable communities were losing their only banking facilities, despite pledges from some major banks to keep the 'last bank in town’ open.

The latest round of closures includes the Barclays branch in Southminster, Essex, which also has the town’s only free cash machine. Half of the adult population of the town have signed a petition to keep the branch open, which they will present to Barclays’ regional manager on Friday of this week.

Brian Beale, the head of Southminster parish council and leader of the campaign to keep the branch open, said vulnerable pensioners were “panicking about how to get to their cash”. He added that Barclays had sent a letter to its customers explaining that they could use the local post office instead. However, that post office had closed some three months previously. “They obviously did not open a dialogue with anyone,” Mr Beale said.

A spokesman for Barclays said it was not breaking its pledge not to close the last branch in a town - because it was using a definition in the Banking Code that described a town as having a bank branch if there was one within a four-mile radius.

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“Southminster is a difficult one, but then no branch closure is easy,” the spokesman said. She added that the bank had been unaware of the post office closure when it sent out the letters and “regretted” that it had suggested that local people use the post office for banking services. However, she said Barclays was “unlikely” to reconsider its decision to close the branch, as usage was low and declining.

Mr Beale said the nearest bank branch was more than two miles away, and that many of the customers were pensioners who did not drive. Mr French said banks were closing branches in many areas where they were the last or the last but one bank. Barclays is closing 22 branches this quarter, including two where it is the only bank, while Lloyds and HSBC are closing nine each in the three-month period.