A Colne Valley village is to lose its last remaining bank.
Lloyds Bank will close its branch at Market Street, Milnsbridge, on June 7 in a move described by one businessman as “a slap in the face” for the local community.
Letters have gone to customers apologising for any inconvenience the closure may cause and advising them to bank at the Westgate branch in Huddersfield town centre or by phone or online.
It prompted a number of responses on Facebook with one customer commenting: “That bank is my saviour. I use it quite regular, to put money in my account etc. Such a shame.”
Another posted: “I know more and more we use internet banking but a lot of folk and especially local business while be greatly affected. Sad for the employees too and I hope they still have a job somewhere.”
Chris Worsley, of Easy Fireplaces on Morley Lane, said: “For Milnsbridge, it’s just another slap in the face. For businesses, it reduces footfall.
“Milnsbridge has one of the biggest ‘routes through the village’ in the whole of Huddersfield. All we have ever wanted to do is entice people to stop and shop rather than just driving through. Losing the bank takes away another reason to stop and shop.”
In October 2014, Lloyds announced that it had embarked on a three-year programme to axe 200 branches with the loss of 9,000 jobs. The move – which will see the closure of 10% of the 2,000-strong branch network – spelled an end to Lloyds’ pledge to keep a branch open where it was “the last bank in town.”
Alongside the branches in Huddersfield and Milnsbridge, Lloyds has branches locally at Carr Lane in Slaithwaite, Southgate in Elland, Market Place, Dewsbury, and Commercial Street, Batley.
The closure of Lloyds Bank in Milnsbridge recalls an incident some years ago when the TSB in Milnsbridge was under threat of closure – and it was rumoured that Huddersfield-born tycoon Lord Hanson stepped in to save it. The bank was one of the first he had ever used and it’s thought the multi-millionaire businessman had a word with bank bosses to persuade them to keep it open.
James Hanson was a playboy turned multi-millionaire businessman and family man, whose glamorous lifestyle included a brief engagement to Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn before he married US divorcee Geraldine Kaelin in 1959.
Over 30 years, he built up Hanson plc into a multi-national conglomerate employing 90,000 people and with colleague Lord White earned the reputation as a “corporate raider” during the 1980s, spreading consternation in boardrooms across Britain and the US.
Lloyds Bank said the Milnsbridge branch had been identified for closure because most of its customers now regularly used other branches or were banking by phone or online.
It said 71% of personal customers in Milnsbridge used other branches and other ways to bank while the number of counter transactions made by personal customers fell by over 14% last year.
The branch had only 50 regular weekly personal and business customers and almost all its personal customers were also using other branches, such as the Westgate branch in Huddersfield town centre.
Customer accounts would be realigned to Huddersfield while the bank would also talking to customers about the services offered at Milnsbridge post office. It was hoped to redeploy staff affected to other roles.
