LOSING the last bank in Westbury will be a major blow to the town, say councillors, as Lloyds announced its branch in the town will close in February.

Lloyds made the announcement after figures revealed that only 37 of its customers use the branch on a regular weekly basis.

This follows the closure of the Barclays branch last February, leaving the town with no banks for the first time since 1858 when North Wilts Banking was the first to open in the town.

Westbury mayor, Councillor Ian Cunningham, said: “It is a major blow for the town. We aren’t the only town who now won’t have a bank.

“A lot of people have asked the town council what we are going to do about it, but we don’t have the power to force someone to run a business, but we can express the town’s concerns.

“People in Westbury do want banking services as the alternatives are difficult for some, which is what we argued when Barclays closed.

“Lloyds will argue that only a small percentage of its customers use the Westbury branch, but they are the ones who need it.

“Older people who have never owned a smart phone will still want cash services in Westbury.

“On the other side of things, this may encourage someone to come forward to run a post office which will be able to offer cash services in the town. We have seen some interest in this recently, so this might just be the push it needs.”

Donald Paradise, 91, said: “People who are my age are going to suffer from the last bank in Westbury closing.

“I have never done online banking and I just don’t understand all that, we are too old for that.

“We don’t always have a car so I just don’t know what we will do then.”

Gary Walker, owner of Only Skin Deep tattoo parlour in Edward Street, said: “We are a cash-only business, and our customers use the Lloyds cashpoint around eight or 10 times a day.

“Now we are going to have to look at getting a card machine which is very expensive and complicates how we run things.

“I can’t understand why the bank is closing, at around 3pm there are so many tradesmen queuing up waiting to pay in. It will be a real shame to lose it and we will need to cross that bridge in February.”

The review of the closure published online states: “Following a careful review, the Westbury branch will close on 21 February 2019.

“We have made the difficult decision to close this branch because customers are using it less often. In addition, the majority of customers are also using alternative ways to bank.”