Residents fight for town's bank

HSBC has not confirmed whether the cash point will be removed

Residents have begun a campaign to keep their town's only bank open after HSBC said it would close in January.

The bank announced last month that it would close the branch in Whitchurch, a town with a population of about 4,500.

HSBC said the branch was underused and already operating a reduced service three days a week.

Residents claim the closure will leave a hole in the community and a website campaigning for it to stay has collected 222 signatures.

HSBC said, despite only opening for 15 hours a week, the branch has on average six customers per hour.

Public meeting

A spokesman for HSBC said: "We don't make decisions such as this lightly but we have to put resources into the branches and services that customers are using.

"In this case, the decision to close was made on the basis of very low customer use and its longer-term prospects, which are very limited."

He added: "Branches will always be part of our distribution network, but the reality is that more and more customers are choosing not to use branches as they used to, preferring the ease and convenience of internet and telephone banking."

HSBC said, although the branch will close, it has not yet made a decision whether to keep an ATM at the site.

A public meeting with HSBC representatives is being held on 10 December.