Banking giant HSBC is to close its Holmfirth branch in the new year.

Letters are being sent to customers telling them that the branch in Victoria Street will close on January 13, 2017.

But Holme Valley pensioner Joyce Crowther, a long-standing customer of HSBC, said the move would make banking more difficult for individuals and local businesses who relied on the branch and its staff.

The letter customers can use HSBC branches in Huddersfield, Brighouse or Dewsbury or Holmfirth Post office. It also offers the options of banking by phone, mobile or online.

But Mrs Crowther, who lives at Netherthong, said: “At 84, I don’t want to do online banking. Two members of my family have had money taken online.”

She said she was reluctant to bank at the Cloth Hall Street branch in Huddersfield. “What worries me about going to Huddersfield is carrying money through town back to the car, I’m not happy about it. I don’t like using cash machines because people are standing around.”

HSBC, Victoria Street, Holmfirth.

Mrs Crowther said going to Brighouse or Dewsbury would be impractical and that her only other option would be to change banks.

But she added: “I don’t want to do that. I have been with the bank since the 1970s when I came to live here.

“The Holmfirth branch has always been there when I have needed it. You can speak to someone, you are not cluttered with machines. It’s not the same as having a bank where you can discuss matters.”

The Holmfirth branch is one of more than 100 HSBC branches due to close this year. The latest cull follows a series of branch closures over recent years. HSBC’s Almondbury branch was axed in 2013 and the Denby Dale branch closed in 2014 while last year saw the closure of the Heckmondwike branch.

HSBC failed to respond to requests for a statement about the Holmfirth closure. Earlier this year, in response to complaints about closure from MPs, the bank said decisions to close branches were not taken lightly, but were commercial decisions for the bank to take.

It said it would always engage with the community in line with the Access to Banking protocol and work with customers to discuss and explain banking options in light of a closure.